Injured Vandana Unavailable for Pro League Ties vs Netherlands
The forwardline’s injury headaches of the Indian women hockey team arent showing any signs of easing with experienced forward Vandana Katariya unlikely to play upcoming the Pro League games against England and the Netherlands in the first week of April. The 29-year-old Haridwar girl sustained a minor ankle fracture while playing the Pro League match against Spain- Subsequently, she was forced to give the Pro League ties against Germany a miss.
The country’s most capped women hockey player with 258 internationals under her belt in a highly decorated 12-year international career, will be surely missed in the forwardline that is operating without prologned injury-induced absence of Rani Rampal. Rani hasn’t played a single game since the 2021 Tokyo Olympics owing to a nagging hamstring injury and is said to be recuperating well.
“Ankle fracture means a player cannot do running something you can do if it is a upper body injury. Vandana will have to first get fully fit and gradually resume training. Usually, such kind of injuries take about three-four weeks to heal,” said a source close to the national hockey selectors.
Read Stats Corner: India in Junior Women’s Hockey World Cup
It does appear that Vandana is likely to be available for selection for India’s away Pro League ties against Belgium Argentina and USA to be held in the month of June. India are slated to Belgium on June 11 and 12 at Antwerp, while they are slated to lock horns with Argentina and USA at Rotterdam on June 18 &19 and June 21 & 22 respectively.
