Indian Women’s Hockey team forward Sharmila Devi, who has recently impressed everyone, is working hard to cement her place in the starting eleven. The 19-year-old has proven her credentials with every opportunity that has come her way to represent the country.
Starting from her first outing for Indian in Japan at the Tokyo Test Event in 2019 to FIH Olympic Qualifiers where he topped it up with a goal against the United States in India’s famous 5-1 win in the first match.
“I played my first match for the senior side in 2019 and ever since then, I have been getting fantastic exposure with the team and I am happy to receive these opportunities and want to make each one count,” expressed Sharmila Devi.
The youngster was a livewire on the field for India in their recent tour to Argentina where they faced the World No.2 in multiple matches as part of their exposure. Sharmila scored twice in low scoring matches and had a great overall impact in India’s attacking transitions.
Speaking about the tour she said, “The Indian Team was playing against Argentina after nearly four years. The senior players who had previously played against Argentina in 2017 recalled how strong a team they are and how important it is for us to execute our plans perfectly.”
“Though we were quite effective against them and came very close to winning, I felt we should work a lot more on converting opportunities in the circle. We were making enough and more circle entries but were unable to convert,” the youngster continued.
The Haryana born forward was full of praises for Hockey India as they managed to arrange such a tour to Argentina during these difficult times of a pandemic. She feels that the exposure tour will help the team immensely as India prepares for the Tokyo Olympics which will be held later this year.
“Playing in Argentina was a very different experience. The opponent was no doubt very challenging, which made this tour exciting, but the way everything was organized and playing in a biosecure bubble was a different experience altogether. Even the hotel we stayed at took extra care in ensuring our comforts and the food was suitable to our palate which is rarely ever the case when we travel,” Sharmila opined.
“We are very grateful to Hockey India for ensuring a safe environment for us to compete. Though we are disappointed we didn’t secure a win, the lessons from this exposure will help us prepare best for the Olympic Games,” the 19-year-old signed off.
