Indian Women Hockey Team made it to Olympics

Indian women hockey team on Saturday booked their tickets to the 2016 Rio Games, only their second qualifications ever for the Olympics. India's only previous qualification for the Games was in 1980, where they finished a commendable fourth. The fifth-place finish at the Hockey World League Semi-Finals in July was enough for India to clinch the historic berth as a place opened up after Netherlands and England reached the final of the Euro Hockey Championships in London. The Indian women's team was waiting for the confirmation since July as they needed two of the already-qualified teams to reach the final of the European Championships for their qualification. India became the 10th team to qualify for the Rio Games after South Korea, Argentina, Great Britain, China, Germany, Netherlands, Australia, New Zealand and USA.

This is only the second time that India women will be participating in Olympics and the first time they have that they have qualified for the Olympics. Qualification for Rio Olympics is a big boost for Indian women's hockey as the teams have come close many time in the past only to fall on the last hurdle. Playing in Rio in the competition involving top countries will be a big boost for the girls and would attract more youngsters to the team that has always played second fiddle to their male counterparts. The Indian men's team was the first to clinch their berth to Rio after winning the Asian Games gold medal last year.

Some Key Players in The Team :

1. Ritu Rani

The current captain of the Indian eves, Ritu Rani is a midfielder who has 193 international caps to her credit. Born in 1991 in Haryana, she started training in the sport at the tender age of 12 at the famous Shahbad Academy there. By the time she was 14, she had already been a part of the national squad at the 2006 World Cup in Madrid, the youngest player in the team.

2. Jaspreet Kaur

Known as the “Rupinder Pal Singh” of women’s hockey, Jaspreet Kaur also hails from Haryana and has been trained at the Shahbad Academy. The fiery 19-year old is the chief penalty corner drag-flicker in the squad, having a penchant for converting a stationery ball in a penalty corner into a pivotal goal. Having represented the country in over 80 internationals, Jaspreet went on to become the best player of the tournament in the 2013 World League Round 2.

3. Savita Poonia

The ace goalie of the Indian team is nothing short of a wall standing between the opponent striker and the net. Savita too hails from Haryana and shot to the limelight with her remarkable performance in the 8th Women’s Asia Cup in Malaysia, where she was named the best goalkeeper of the tournament and rightly so.

4. Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam

Born in 1992 in Manipur, Sushila Chanu was named captain of the junior women’s field hockey team in 2013. Beginning her career in 2003, Chanu went on to win laurels such as leading the team to a bronze at the 2013 junior World Cup in Mochengladbach, Germany. In the current senior squad, she plays as a midfielder alongside captain Ritu Rani and is known to convert several scoring opportunities into goals.

5. Amandeep Kaur

A young player from Punjab who first represented India in last year’s Asian Games where the team clinched the bronze medal, Amandeep Kaur is one of the rising stars of Indian women’s hockey. A talented player who played as a midfielder earlier and now plays as a forward, Kaur has said in interviews that her training is intense and she constantly tries to learn from experienced players like captain Ritu Rani about various techniques such as back passing, passing to the strikers and shooting from outside the D.