Field hockey News: Savita Punia to captain Indian team on tour to South Africa, Rani Rampal returns
Hockey India named the Indian women's squad for the forthcoming South African tour, which will begin on January 16, 2023, in Cape Town.
Hockey Women's : Savita Punia to lead IndiaIndia, who recently won the inaugural FIH Women's Nations Cup 2022 in Valencia, will face four games against South Africa and three against the Netherlands from January 16 to 28.
Savita, the team's goalkeeper, has been named the captain, and Navneet Kaur, an accomplished player, has been named vice-captain. Veteran forward Rani Rampal will join the team once more following the FIH Women's Hockey Pro League game against Belgium in 201/22.
Vaishnavi Vitthal Phalke, who served as captain of the Indian Women's Junior Team during the Uniphar U23 5 Nations Tournament in May, has been included in the senior team for the first time.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">India lift <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FIHNationscup?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FIHNationscup</a> defending slender 1-0 lead. Since when can we expect an <a href="https://twitter.com/TheHockeyIndia?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheHockeyIndia</a> team to defend its lead for 50 mins. Gosh, this team deserves everything and more with <a href="https://twitter.com/savitahockey?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@savitahockey</a> as the queen. <a href="https://twitter.com/jannekeschopman?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@jannekeschopman</a> Take a bow! <a href="https://t.co/5S86t8J2SG">pic.twitter.com/5S86t8J2SG</a></p>— GBS Bindra (@GBSBindra) <a href="https://twitter.com/GBSBindra/status/1604162119234375680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 17, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Janneke Schopman, the head coach of the Indian women's team, said: "The South Africa tour is a brilliant opportunity for us to build on our performance of the Nations Cup. Playing both South Africa as well as The Netherlands on this tour provides us with everything we need to learn about ourselves come the Asian Games.
"Playing the world number one Netherlands will most likely expose our vulnerabilities and will also show where we are with our performance and growth. Playing South Africa, where we most likely will have more of the ball, will give us the opportunity to improve in ball possession areas."