Three Odisha Players Included in 20-Member Indian Women’s Hockey Team for New Zealand Tour

Bhubaneswar: Bringing laurels to the State, three players from Odisha have made it to the 20-member Indian Women’s Hockey Team for the New Zealand Tour scheduled to begin on January 25 in Auckland.

Deep Grace Ekka, Namita Toppo and Lilima Minz have found their place in the Indian Women’s Hockey Team, which will be led by Rani and Vice Captained by Savita.

The team consists of Rajini Etimarpu, Deep Grace Ekka, Gurjit Kaur, Reena Khokhar, Salima Tete, Sushila Chanu, Nisha, Namita Toppo, Udita, Monika, Lilima Minz, Neha, Sonika, Sharmila Devi, Navneet Kaur, Lalremsiami, Vandana Katariya, Navjot Kaur.

While the team’s first match is against the New Zealand Development Squad on 25 January 2020, they will play against the New Zealand Women’s Team on 27 and 29 January followed by a match against Great Britain on 4 February and then conclude the tour with another match with the New Zealand Women’s Team on 5 February 2020.

Speaking about the Tour, Chief Coach Sjoerd Marijne said, “I want to use this tour to create more competition within this group. Although we are taking a 20-member team, in some matches we will use 16 players because we play with 16 players at the Olympics and in some matches we will play 18 members. The players have to show their best and I want to see how they perform under pressure and stay in the right rhythm for matches.”

He further added that playing against the World no.5 England/ Great Britain and World No.6 New Zealand provides a great opportunity to be our best and I want the fearless attitude on display during the tour,” Marijne said.

Indian Women’s Team for New Zealand Tour:

1. Savita (Vice Captain)
2. Rajini Etimarpu
3. Deep Grace Ekka
4. Gurjit Kaur
5. Reena Khokhar
6. Salima Tete
7. Sushila Chanu
8. Nisha
9. Namita Toppo
10. Udita
11. Monika
12. Lilima Minz
13. Neha
14. Sonika
15. Rani (Captain)
16. Sharmila Devi
17. Navneet Kaur
18. Lalremsiami
19. Vandana Katariya
20. Navjot Kaur