Indian Women's hockey team is the Asia champion by winning the Asian Champions Trophy earlier this month. Now, the team will be heading to Melbourne to play test series against the hosts Australia between 23rd November to 30th November.
Forward player Vandana Kataria has been selected as the captain of the team for the tour while defender Sunita Lakra will be supporting her as vice-captain.
The team is looking positive after the champion's trophy win which has washed the poor performance the girls were facing before the Olympics this year. The Australian team is one of the toughest contenders to beat in the world hockey right now, the tournament will definitely have a positive impact on the players to make them learn to play under the pressure situations.
"After the Olympics, the team is playing with a fresh perspective and attitude towards the game. The recent win in Singapore goes to show that the team is eager to do well against best of the teams in the world and would continue doing well against Australia on their home turf. This will give us a lot of confidence going forward in the new Olympic cycle," Vandana said in a statement.
Team: Goalkeeper: Savita, Rajani Etimarpu. Defenders: Deep Grace Ekka, Salima Tete, Sunita Lakra (vice-captain), Rashmita Minz, Navdeep Kaur. Midfielders: Nikki Pradhan, Navjot Kaur, Karishma Yadav, Rani, Deepika, Monika. Forwards: Poonam Rani, Anuradha Devi Thokchom, Vandana Katariya (captain), Preeti Dubey, Sonika
Tejaswin Shankar sets new record in 'Junior High Jump'