Injured Vandana Katariya ruled out of the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers 2024 in Ranchi
The striker, who suffered a fractured cheekbone during training, has been replaced by Baljeet Kaur.
In what is a big blow for the Indian women’s hockey team, veteran striker Vandana Katariya has been ruled out of the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers 2024 scheduled in Ranchi, Jharkhand from January 13 to 19.
Vandana, who recently became the first woman to earn 300 caps for the Indian national hockey team, was originally named vice-captain of India’s 18-member squad. She will miss the tournament after fracturing her cheekbone during a training session.
Youngster Baljeet Kaur, who has shown great promise in India’s recent outings, will replace Vandana Katariya in the squad while local Ranchi girl Nikki Pradhan will become the vice-captain.
Vandana has been a key member of the Indian women’s hockey team for a decade. She has competed in all major competitions, including the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Vandana is also the first Indian women’s hockey player to score a hat-trick at the Summer Games.
Meanwhile, the Indian women’s hockey team arrived in Ranchi on Wednesday.
“We are looking forward to starting our campaign and interestingly our first match is against the USA with whom we played the previous Olympic qualifiers,” India captain Savita Punia said. “I am sure it will be an exciting opening match and we look forward to a good start to our campaign.”
The women’s hockey Olympic qualifiers in Ranchi will be an eight-nation tournament. India have been placed in Pool B, along with New Zealand, Italy and the United States while Germany, Japan, Chile and the Czech Republic make up Pool A.
After the round-robin matches in the group stage, the top two teams from each pool will qualify for the semi-finals. While the top two teams qualify for the Paris Olympics, the losing semi-finalists will play the bronze medal match, with the winner also securing their ticket to Paris 2024.
India will open their campaign in Pool B against the USA on January 13. Savita Punia and Co. will face off against New Zealand and Italy on January 14 and 16, respectively.
The Indian men’s hockey team, who won the gold medal at the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, has already qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympics.