The Indian Women’s Hockey team made everyone in the country proud with their fourth-placed finish in the Olympics.
One of the main players of that team was Sharmila Devi. The 19-year-old forward was instrumental in India’s campaign. She made several runs into the opposition area to create pressure on them and create goal-scoring opportunities. She also scored a goal in India’s group game against Great Britain in the Olympics.
Sharmila has said that it was an honour for her to get nominated for this award and felt fantastic because her efforts were recognised. She further said that she plays for the team and it was a testament to the team’s efforts that she has been nominated. She added that the team was very disappointed and heartbroken with not getting a medal this time around when they were so close but they have learned from their match against Great Britain and have got a lot of confidence from playing good teams which still requires some fine-tuning so that they can become consistent performers in all tournaments.
The 19-year-old forward also gave good wishes to her fellow team- members defender Gurjit Kaur and goalkeeper Savita for being nominated for the FIH Women’s Player of the Year and FIH Women’s Goalkeeper of the year respectively.
The player said, “The fact that we have made the shortlist of all the categories of FIH Hockey Stars Awards 2020-21 shows that each department of the team is contributing to the team’s success on the field. Gurjit scored some crucial goals for us in the knockout stages, the one against Australia in the Quarter-Final being the most important goal and Savita made many brilliant saves throughout the Tokyo Games. I am really happy that their performances have been recognized and would like to congratulate them for being nominated for the FIH Women’s Player of the Year Award and FIH Women’s Goalkeeper of the Year Award respectively.”