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Former India women’s hockey team captain Rani Rampal brought an end to retirement rumours and said that she still has more to give to the sport. Rampal, who was at a Hockey India press conference on August 10, Thursday, said that she has time to take the retirement call. Rani captained India in Tokyo Olympics 2020, where s he led her side to finish fourth in the marquee event.
Rampal was soon sidelined due to multiple injuries and since then she hasn’t been included in the Indian team. Not only this, but the 28-year-old also failed to make it to the team’s training camp in Bengaluru in April and May 2023. In addition to this, the Padma Shri awardee wasn’t included in India’s squad for the tour to Australia.
The Haryana-born took a dig at the Indian coach Janneke Schopman and said that whatever happened to her wasn’t right. Rampal said, "Whatever happened to me wasn’t right in the last two years. I came back from an injury, was the top scorer at the National Games but wasn’t picked. The best person who can answer this is the chief coach or the selectors because I don’t know the answer.”
Speaking of her retirement, she added, "I am not retiring since I know I still have more to give to the sport as a player. I have this thing in me to not give up. If I had to, I’d have given up after the Olympics.”
Former hockey captains Rani Rampal and Sardar Singh take up coaching role
The former India women’s hockey captain Rani Rampal and the former men’s hockey captain Sardar Singh took up the coaching role. Rampal and Singh have been named as the coaches of soon-to-be formed U17 teams, which will be a sub-junior team.
Speaking of Singh, the 37-year-old became the youngest player to lead the Indian side during the 2008 Sultan Azlan Shah Cup.
