Two Odisha players named in national women’s hockey team for Tokyo test event

New Delhi: Two players from Odisha have been selected by Hockey India for 18-member Team India women’s squad for the Olympic Test event to be held in Tokyo next month.

Odisha hockey players, Deep Grace Ekka and Lilima Minz have been named in the team, currently ranked No. 10 in the FIH Rankings, will be facing tough challenges as they will be up against the likes of World No. 2 Australia, World No. 11 China and hosts Japan who are currently ranked 14th in the FIH Rankings.

Under Chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne, the composition of the team has remained similar to the one which participated at the FIH Women’s Series Finals Hiroshima 2019, with the Dutchman having opted for only two changes in the 18-member team selected for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 Test Event.

“We are looking forward to playing three top countries at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 Test Event as I rate them all highly. We have selected a squad of 18 players where only 16 players will be allowed to play in accordance to the Olympic standards. I will be very interested to see how we fare against these countries, and what we need to improve for the FIH Olympic Qualifiers because everything that we do, will be focused on that. We will be learning good lessons in this tour regardless of whatever happens,” said Chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne looking ahead to the event.

Indian Women’s Hockey Team:

1. Savita (GK) – (Vice Captain)

2. Rajani Etimarpu (GK)

3. Deep Grace Ekka

4. Reena Khokhar

5. Gurjit Kaur

6. Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam

7. Salima Tete

8. Nisha

9. Nikki Pradhan

10. Monika

11. Lilima Minz

12. Neha Goyal

13. Rani – (Captain)

14. Navneet Kaur

15. Vandana Katariya

16. Lalremsiami

17. Navjot Kaur

18. Sharmila Devi