Rani to lead India

 Striker Rani will lead an 18-member Indian women’s hockey for the 15-day tour of Europe, beginning from September 5 in the Netherlands.

In-form goalkeeper Savita will shoulder the duties of vice-captain.

In their previous outing at the Hockey World League Semifinal, the team lost to England in the quarterfinal and finished eighth.

The team had begun the year on a positive note with a five-match series win against Belarus followed by a podium finish at the World League Round 2 in Canada. However, they lost a five-match series to higher-ranked New Zealand ahead of the World League Semifinal in Johannesburg.

“I wouldn’t say we dropped our performance after starting the year on a winning note. Our exposure against New Zealand was good despite the loses and we will be working on the mistakes we made in Johannesburg during the on-going camp in Bengaluru. We need to be more consistent and the team is positively working towards achieving better results,” sad Rani.

Coach Sjoerd Marijne felt the Holland experience will throw open a bigger pool of players to choose from for the all-important 2017 Women’s Asia Cup in Japan.

The squad: Goalkeepers: Savita (vice-captain), Rajani Etimarpu. Defenders: Deep Grace Ekka, Gurjit Kaur, Navdeep Kaur, Sunita Lakra, Rashmita Minz. Midfielders: Namita Toppo, Nikki Pradhan, Monika, Karishma Yadav, Lilima Minz, Neha Goyal. Forwards: Rani (captain), Poonam Rani, Vandana Katariya, Reena Khokhar, Lalremsiami.