“We have a good balance of experience and youth in our team” – Vandana Katariya, Monika on Indian women’s hockey team

Arjun Award nominees Vandana Katariya and Monika on Friday said that the Indian women’s hockey team has a good proportion of experience and youth as remains confident of attaining its goals at the Tokyo Olympics.

Earlier in November, the Indian side snatched a second-consecutive quota for the Tokyo Olympics which has been postponed due to COVID-19 after defeating the USA by the margin of 6-5.

“We are certainly moving in the right direction at the moment. The balance of the side is brilliant and we have to just keep moving forward,” Vandana said in a release issued by Hockey India.

“The confidence of our team is high and I am sure we will be able to put up good performances on the big stage. We are evolving very well as a team and have a great mindset at the moment.”

Monica also said that team has worked on its skills improvement and is ready to give the best at the Olympics.

“All of us have only one goal and that is to do well at the Olympics. We have fine-tuned many of our skills in the recent past and we are ready to give everything we have to put up excellent performances at the quadrennial event next year. We have a good balance of experience and youth in our team and we are technically sound as well. We are eager to do well for our country,” she added.

Earlier, Hockey India announced to awarded Indian women’s team skipper Rani Rampal for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award while men’s team defender Harmanpreet Singh, Vandana and Monica were nominated for the Arjuna Award.

Monica has 150 International Caps and Vandana with over 200 International Caps are a crucial player of the Indian team as they helped the side to win the FIH Series Finals in Hiroshima, Tokyo 2020 Olympics Test Event and the FIH Hockey Olympics Qualifiers in Bhubaneswar.

The 28-year-old Vandana thanked her teammates for their immortal support.

“It’s amazing to be nominated for the Arjuna Award. I am sure this nomination will be a huge motivation factor for us in the upcoming years. I couldn’t have performed at my best if I didn’t have wonderful teammates. They have always been on my side and the entire credit for my performances goes to them,” said Vandana.

Monika also confessed that the nomination for the prestigious award will encourage her to perform even better.

“I am extremely honoured to be nominated for the Arjuna Award. The nomination will surely motivate me to perform even better for my team. We produced fantastic results in 2019 and hopefully, we will continue our form once we start playing matches,” she said.