Preparations for Rio Olympics under way for Indian women's hockey team

The Indian Eves will look to be at their best for the Rio Olympics

A three-week training camp will commence from today for the Indian women’s national hockey team, in the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubhaneshwar. Thirty-three players will be part of the camp, including four goalkeepers, ten defenders, nine midfielders and ten forwards. The current camp will run till the 23^rd of October and comes on the heels of a month-long training camp in Delhi, reports IBNLive.

Talented players from the junior team, who recently participated in the 7th Junior Asia Cup and Volvo Invitational Under-21 (Women) Tournament earlier in 2015, will also participate in the training camp. This camp will serve as a prelude for the eves to hone their skills and coordination before the imminent tournaments, all of which are crucial preparation for the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Chief coach Mathias Ahrens said in a statement to the press, “With the team all set to face the challenge of Rio de Janeiro next year, Hockey India is ensuring that the players have all that is required to be ready for the tournament and be a tough team for the opponents. Keeping this in mind we are arranging regular preparatory camps alongwith plans to line-up Test series with different international teams in the next 8 months which will help the players to better themselves as a unit.”

The Indian Eves’ squad consists of:

Goalkeepers: Savita, Yogita Bali, Rajani Etimarpu, Sonal Minj

Defenders: Manjit Kaur, Sunita Lakra, Deepika, Susila Chanu Pukhrmbam, Jaspreet Kaur, Namita Toppo, Deep Grace Ekka, Gurjit Kaur, H. Lalruwatfeli, Rukmani Dodray

Midfielders: M. Lily Chanu, Renuka Yadav, Ritu Rani (captain), Lilima Minz, Navjot Kaur, Monika, Narinder Kaur, Lalhlunmawii, Navdeep Kaur

Forwards: Navneet Kaur, Rani Rampal, Poonam Rani, Vandana Kataria, Anupa Barla, Anuradha Devi Thokchom, Ritusha Kumari Arya, Punam Barla, Nikki Pradhan, Jyoti Gupta.

The Indian womens’s hockey team topped Round 2 of the FIH Women’s Hockey World League, which was hosted in India. With their performance, they progressed to the World League Semifinals, where they beat higher-ranked Japan to gain 5^th position. This made possible a historic qualification to the Rio Olympics, what will be their first appearance since the 1980 Summer Olympics.