Six women railway employees, including five ticket checkers, posted in Mumbai, have been selected for the national women’s hockey team to represent India in the forthcoming Tokyo Olympics 2021. Four players belong to Central Railway (CR) and two to Western Railway (WR).
Sushila Chanu (midfielder) is posted at the Masjid railway station of Central Railway as a head ticket collector. Vandana Katariya (forward), Monika Malik (midfielder) and Rajni Etimarpu (standby- goalkeeper) of CR are posted at CSMT as head ticket collectors.
Navneet Kaur (forward) is posted at the Mumbai Central station of Western Railway as head ticket inspector, and Deep Grace Ekka (defender) works as office superintendent of WR at Mumbai Central.
“The Indian women hockey players have the skill to compete against the world’s best, but will need to stay calm and take right decisions in crunch situations to be able to do well at the Olympics,” said a senior Western Railway officer.
Navneet Kaur looks calm by nature, but when on the ground, she is a completely changed person and always tries to attack the opposite team. Deep Grace Ekka and Navneet Kaur had represented India in the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. They were also members of the Indian women hockey team, which won the silver medal in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta. Sarita Grover, women hockey coach of Central Railway, is optimistic about her team’s performance.
“Sushila is a good leader. She can manage the team well. She is an excellent playmaker. She was the captain in the 2016 Rio Olympics. Vandana’s game is quite speedy. Her odds of scoring the goal are very high,” Grover said.
According to Grover, Rajni, the goalkeeper, is calm and can act fast when needed. She is outstanding in penalty shootouts. Monica possesses real good tackling ability. She is challenging to counter as she can hold her ground tight, the coach said.
“It is a proud moment for Central Railway’s Mumbai Division as four of its staff members have been selected in the 16-member squad announced to play in the Tokyo Olympics,” said Anil Kumar Jain, senior public relations officer of CR.