Indian women’s hockey team captain Rani Rampal on Friday hoped that the experience gained from playing against the best teams in the FIH Hockey Pro League will help her team in the same way as the men’s team. The Indian women’s team was on Friday included in the Pro League for the upcoming Season 3 along with Spain as replacements for Australia and New Zealand, who were ruled out due to the COVID-19 restrictions imposed by their respective governments.
Other players also expressed their enthusiasm to play in the top league, which begins on 13 October with the first match between Olympic and World Champions, the Netherlands and Belgium.
Rani said, “It is great news for us. We have seen how much performance in the FIH Hockey Pro League has helped our male counterparts in the Indian team. They got the opportunity to play with the best teams in the world and I believe I think it has helped her take her game to the next level. Similarly, the Indian women’s team is also looking forward to make the most of this opportunity. The entire team is excited.”
On the other hand, goalkeeper Savita said that this performance will help in increasing the talent pool in the Indian team. “We have some very talented junior players coming into the core group. Playing regular matches against top teams in the FIH Hockey Pro League will allow the team to try out a different combination of players ahead of important tournaments like the Asian Games in 2022 and the FIH Women’s World Cup in July 2022. We at Pro League believe in this experience. It will help us improve our game even more,” said Savita, who recently won the FIH Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year award.
Two-time Olympian Monica also reflects on her excitement to play the FIH Hockey Pro League this season with her teammates. “We never got a chance to play with top teams like Netherlands as many times as we would like. We played them just once, three or four years ago, before our first match at the Tokyo Olympics against the World No. 1 team. But being a part of the Pro League this season will give us the perfect opportunity to test our abilities against the top teams. We are very happy to be included in this season and hope the chances count,” Hockey India quoted him as saying in a release.
Young Sharmila Devi, who won the FIH Rising Star of the Year title, also said it would be a great opportunity for young players like her in the team.
“Playing in the top teams of the world will give good exposure to youngsters like me. One thing we wanted to work on before the Asian Games was to perform under pressure. The FIH Hockey Pro League will be a great experience in that aspect and we are very excited about it.”
The Indian women’s team will begin its FIH Pro League campaign with a double-header against the Netherlands on February 19 and 20, 2022.
Besides the Netherlands, Belgium, India and Spain, the other teams in the 9-team FIH Women’s Pro League are Germany, England, Belgium, Argentina and the United States.
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