Hockey News: Hockey India recommend Rani Rampal for Khel Ratna award

Hockey India announced the nomination of Indian Women's Hockey Team Captain Rani Rampal for the prestigious Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award while her compatriots Vandana Katariya, Monika and Harmanpreet Singh have been nominated for the Arjuna Award. The period of consideration for the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award is between January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2019. In this while, Rani has led the Indian Women's Hockey Team to historic victories in the Women's Asia Cup in 2017, Silver at the 2018 Asian Games and played a critical role in the FIH Olympic Qualifiers in 2019 by scoring the deciding goal that helped in India's qualification for the Tokyo Olympics. In this period, the Indian Women's Hockey Team also climbed to a career-best FIH World Ranking of No.9. First from India to be named as the World Games Athlete of The Year 2019, Rani has also been the recipient of the Arjuna Award in 2016 and the prestigious Padma Shri award in 2020. Meanwhile, striker Vandana Katariya who has over 200 International Caps and Monika with over 150 International Caps, both recommended for the Arjuna Award, have played key roles in the Indian Team's sensational wins in 2019 which include the FIH Series Finals in Hiroshima, Tokyo 2020 Olympics Test Event and the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers in Bhubaneswar. Indian Men's Hockey Team drag flick sensation Harmanpreet Singh, also shortlisted for the prestigious Arjuna Award, stepped up his role in the team and shouldered the responsibility of Vice Captain with aplomb. As a defender drag flicker he was instrumental in the team's winning performance in the FIH Series Finals in Odisha. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Test Event, he captained the team to victory in the absence of Manpreet Singh who was rested for the tournament. Harmanpreet was also part of the Indian team that won the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers against Russia last year.