Hockey India names women's team for NZ tour
New Delhi/UNI: Hockey India on Tuesday named a 20-member Indian women's hockey team for the New Zealand tour, scheduled to begin on January 25 in Auckland, New Zealand.
The team led by Rani and vice-captained by Savita 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 January 25, they will play against the New Zealand women's team on January 27 and 29 followed by a match against Great Britain on February 4.
Indian team will conclude the tour with another match with the New Zealand women's team on February 5.
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 added.
The coach further mentioned that playing against the World no 5 England and World No 6 New Zealand provides a great opportunity for the team and he wants the fearless attitude on display during the tour.
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