India women's national field hockey team

The Indian women's national field hockey team (nicknamed the Nabhvarna) is ranked 9th in the FIH World Rankings.

This article is about the women's team. For the men's team, see India men's national field hockey team.

India
Nickname
  • "नभवर्णा/Nabhvarna"
AssociationHockey India
ConfederationASHF (Asia)
CoachSjoerd Marijne
Assistant coach(es)Erik Wonink
ManagerKumar C. R.
CaptainRani Rampal
Home
Away
FIH ranking
Current 9 (1 March 2020)[1]
Olympic Games
Appearances2 (first in 1980)
Best result4th (1980)

From February 2018, the state government of Odisha started sponsoring Indian national field hockey team, both men and women team. In a first-of-its-kind association, the state has decided to support the India's field hockey team for next five years.[2]

Performance history
Indian Women's Hockey team players, 2017.
Indian Women's Hockey Team for the 2020 Olympic Qualifiers, 2019

The team's breakthrough performance came at the Women's Hockey World Cup at Mandelieu in 1974, where it finished in 4th place. Their best performance in the Olympic Games was at 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics (where they came in 4th), when a women's event was held for the first time in Olympic history. The team also won the Gold medal at the inaugural 1982 Asian Games held in New Delhi, defeating Korea in the finals. Captain Suraj Lata Devi led the team to the Gold for three consecutive years at different events- during the 2002 Commonwealth Games[3], the 2003 Afro-Asian Games, and the 2004 Women's Hockey Asia Cup. Team members were referred to as the "assi (Jasjeet) jaisi koi nahi" or the "Golden Girls of Hockey," after the 2004 win.[4] The team earned a 3rd-place finish at the 2013 Women's Hockey Asia Cup at Kuala Lumpur defeating China in a shootout.[5] At the 2014 Commonwealth Games, it finished in 5th place but at 2014 Asian Games, Incheon stunned Japan 2-1 in a tight match to clinch their third bronze medal at the Asian Games.[6] During the summer of 2015, the team hosted the Round 2 of the 2014–15 Women's FIH Hockey World League and finished on top to qualify for the next stage. At the World League Semifinals held in Antwerp the team finished in the fifth place beating higher ranked Japan in classification match.[7] The Indian woman's national field hockey team qualified for the 2016 Summer Olympics[8][9] for the first time since the 1980 Summer Olympics.[8][10] They were eliminated in the group stage, however, where they placed 6th.

2002 Commonwealth Games and Chak De! India (2007)
I felt why has the girls’ team been given so little coverage. I shared the idea with Aditya (Chopra). He liked it and said stop everything else and concentrate on it. I started my research by spending time with hockey players [...] It’s just a matter of chance that Negi's story matches with Kabir Khan. There are many cases, like in Colombia, football players are killed for not performing well for the club. I had no idea about Negi’s story while writing the script, and he joined us after the script was ready. In fact, his name was suggested by M.K. Kaushik, who was the coach of the team that won the Commonwealth Games’ gold. On day one, when Negi read the script, he cried and it was then that we came to know about his story.[11]

—Jaideep Sahni

The 2002 Commonwealth Games Squad, led by Captain Suraj Lata Devi, competed in the 2002 Commonwealth Games. The team entered the finals after defeating the Australian women's national field hockey team[12] and placed first, winning the Gold after they beat the English women's hockey team.[3][13][14]

This event served as the inspiration for the 2007 Bollywood film about women's field hockey, Chak De! India starring Shah Rukh Khan (after screenwriter Jaideep Sahni read a short article about it).[15] Sahani began to model the character of Kabir Khan on hockey coach Maharaj Krishan Kaushik.[16] After hearing the storyline, Kaushik suggested that Sahani meet hockey player Mir Ranjan Negi (who faced accusations of throwing the match against Pakistan during the 1982 Asian Games).[17][18][19] Sahani has stated that he was unaware of Negi's tribulations while writing the script and that the resemblance with Negi's life was entirely coincidental.[11] Negi affirmed this point stating that he didn't "want to hog the limelight. This movie is not a documentary of Mir Ranjan Negi's life. It is in fact the story of a team that becomes a winning lot from a bunch of hopeless girls".[20] In response to the fact that the media equated Kabir Khan with Negi, Sahani said that "Our script was written a year and a half back. It is very unfortunate that something, which is about women athletes, has just started becoming about Negi."[16]

Tournament history
Rank Nation Gold Silver Bronze Total
3Commonwealth Games11–2
3Asian Games1236
3Hockey Asia Cup2226
2Asian Champions Trophy1214
13Hockey Champions Challenge––11
1Afro-Asian Games1––1
Note:Position with Bold text indicates best finish in tournament.

Afro-Asian Games
No Year Host Position
1 2003 Hyderabad, India[21]

Awards
Summer Olympics
  • During the 2008 Women's Field Hockey Olympic Qualifier, the team ranked fourth in the "Qualifying Two" event. Rani Devi received the Most Promising Young Player of the Tournament award. (Squad)
Hockey World Cup
  • During the 2001 Women's Hockey World Cup Qualifier, the team ranked 7th. Sanggai Chanu received the Young Player of the Tournament award. (Squad)
Hockey Champions Challenge

Dhyan Chand Award

Mary Dsouza Sequeira (1953–1963)

Arjuna Awards

The following is a list of recipients for the Arjuna award in hockey recipients (by year):

Current squad

Roster for the 2018 Women's Hockey World Cup.[22]

Head coach: Sjoerd Marijne

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Club
11 1GK Tejaswini Rajshekar (2001-06-01) 1 June 2001 169 Hockey Bangalore
13 1GK Rajani Etimarpu (1990-06-09) 9 June 1990 80 Railways
26 2DF Sunita Lakra (1991-06-11) 11 June 1991 139 NALCO
3 2DF Deep Grace Ekka (1994-06-03) 3 June 1994 164 Railways
17 2DF Tejaswini Rajshekar (1987-02-07) 7 February 1987 219 Railways
2 2DF Gurjit Kaur (1995-10-25) 25 October 1995 55 Hockey Punjab
6 2DF Reena Khokhar (1993-04-10) 10 April 1993 14 Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy
19 3MF Namita Toppo (1995-06-04) 4 June 1995 149 Western Railways
31 3MF Lilima Minz (1994-04-10) 10 April 1994 116 Railways
4 3MF Monika Malik (1993-11-05) 5 November 1993 117 Central Railways
32 3MF Neha Goyal (1996-11-15) 15 November 1996 36 Haryana
1 3MF Navjot Kaur (1995-03-07) 7 March 1995 133 Rail Coach Factory
8 3MF Nikki Pradhan (1993-12-08) 8 December 1993 69 Railways Sports Promotion Board
28 4FW Rani Rampal (C) (1994-12-04) 4 December 1994 213 Railways
16 4FW Vandana Katariya (1993-04-15) 15 April 1993 201 Central Railways
25 4FW Navneet Kaur (1996-01-26) 26 January 1996 40 Western Railways
20 4FW Lalremsiami (2000-03-30) 30 March 2000 25 Sports Authority of India
18 4FW Udita (1998-06-14) 14 June 1998 15 Hockey Haryana

See also

References
  1. "FIH Men's and Women's World Ranking". FIH. 1 March 2020. Retrieved 1 March 2020.
  2. "Odisha to sponsor Indian hockey teams for next five years". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 16 February 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2018.
  3. "2002 Manchester: The XVII Commonwealth Games". 2002 Manchester: The XVII Commonwealth Games. 2002. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016.
  4. Pandey, Vineeta (15 February 2004). "Indian Sportswomen: Still the Second Sex". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 26 February 2012. Retrieved 12 April 2008.
  5. "India clinches bronze in Asia Cup hockey". The Hindu. 27 September 2013. Archived from the original on 13 February 2014. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  6. PTI (1 October 2014). "Indian women's hockey team wins Asiad bronze". Times of India. Archived from the original on 22 April 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  7. PTI (6 July 2015). "On the verge of Olympic qualification, Indian women's hockey team arrive to grand welcome". Firstpost. Archived from the original on 22 August 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  8. "Chak De Moment For India". India Today. 29 August 2015. Archived from the original on 18 February 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  9. Bhagvatula, Shrikant (29 August 2015). "Chak De: Indian women's hockey team qualifies for Rio Olympics". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 29 August 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  10. Bose, Adrija (29 August 2015). "India Women's Hockey Team Bags Historic 2016 Rio Olympic Berth After 36 Years". Huffington Post India. Archived from the original on 30 August 2015. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  11. Kumar, Anuj (7 September 2007). "In the company of ideas". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 19 February 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
  12. "Indian women stun Kiwis". BBC. 1 August 2002. Archived from the original on 27 January 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2008.
  13. "India deny England gold". BBC. 3 August 2002. Archived from the original on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 12 April 2008.
  14. "Indian eves win Commonwealth hockey gold". Rediff.com. 3 August 2002. Archived from the original on 17 January 2010. Retrieved 12 April 2008.
  15. Zanane, Anant; Das, Suprita (13 March 2008). "Women's hockey hopes to deliver". Sports. NDTV. Retrieved 7 April 2008.
  16. "Chak De: The real Kabir Khan?". Sports. NDTV. 31 October 2007. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  17. "Back to the goal post". The Hindu. 10 August 2007. Archived from the original on 19 February 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
  18. Shrikant, B (26 June 2007). "More than reel life; the story of truth, lies & a man called Mir". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 17 February 2015. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
  19. "They said I'd taken one lakh per goal ... people used to introduce me as Mr Negi of those seven goals". Indian Express. 16 September 2007. Archived from the original on 19 February 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
  20. Roy, Abhishek (18 August 2007). "'Chak De! is not a documentary of my life'". Hindustan Times/IANS. Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  21. "Afro-Asian Games 2003". rediff.com. Archived from the original on 13 February 2009. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
  22. "2018 World Cup roster". Archived from the original on 21 July 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
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