Hockey India on Wednesday announced the 20-member Indian Women’s Hockey Team that will be travelling for the prestigious Jharkhand Women’s Asian Champions Trophy Ranchi 2023 set to take place from October 27 to November 5.
India, which recently claimed the Bronze medal at the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou 2022, will be competing in the tournament alongside Japan, China, Korea, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Savita will be leading the Indian Women’s Hockey Team in the tournament with Deep Grace Ekka as her deputy.
India will open their campaign in the tournament against Thailand on October 27 and then follow it up with a match against Malaysia on October 28.
India will take on China in their third game on October 30 and then compete against Japan October 31, the Hockey India sources said.
India will play their final pool game against Korea on Thursday, November 2. The Semi-Finals and Final of the tournament will be played on November 4 and November 5, respectively.
Savita and Bichu Devi Kharibam have been named in the list of goalkeepers in the squad while Nikki Pradhan, Udita, Ishika Chaudhary, and Deep Grace Ekka have been named as defenders.
Nisha, Salima Tete, Neha, Navneet Kaur, Sonika, Monika, Jyoti, and Baljeet Kaur form the midfield line-up, while Lalremsiami, Sangita Kumari, Deepika, and Vandana Katariya have been named as the forwards in the squad. Meanwhile, Sharmila Devi and Vaishnavi Vitthal Phalke will also travel with the squad as the backup options.
Speaking on the upcoming competition, Indian Women’s Hockey Team Chief Coach Janneke Schopman said, “It is an important tournament for us to continue our momentum and our steady improvement as a team. While we performed well at the Asian Games to claim the Bronze medal,
the upcoming tournament will give us a chance to further improve our standings against our Asian challengers. We will get a chance to put our learnings from Hangzhou into action and test ourselves once again. With the tournament happening in Ranchi, Jharkhand, we are eager to perform our best in front of home fans, and showcase our growth as a team.”
