Rio 2016: 2nd Olympics after 36 Years finds Indian Women’s Hockey Team at Bottom

Indian Women Team earned an entry in Olympics only for the second time. They played in 1980 Olympics when Women’s Hockey became part of Olympics for the first time. Since then, it too 36 years to qualify again for Olympics. In the end the huge reshuffle in the team selection impacted as their best performance was a draw and they finished at bottom. Check their schedule, results, squad and history of results and details of Moscow Olympics.

Women Hockey Medal Winners in Olympics History
Indian Performance in Every Olympics
History of All Sports Played at Olympics by India
Indian Medals In Olympics: When and Who Got It!!
Indian Hockey in 2020 Olympics

Indian Teams and Schedule at Rio 2016: Athletics: Men’s, Women’s, Archery, Badminton, Boxing, Golf, Gymnastics, Hockey: Men’s, Judo, Rowing, Shooting, Swimming, Table Tennis, Tennis, Weightlifting, Wrestling

Schedule for Group Matches
At Group Stage, Indian Women are placed with Argentina, Australia, Great Britain, Japan and United States where top 4 teams will qualify for Quarterfinals.
Schedule and Results: Group B – Overall Finished at Bottom 12th

1. Aug 7: India 2-2 Japan (Rani Rampal, Minz)

1. Aug 8: India 0-3 Great Britain

1. Aug 10: India 1-6 Australia (Thokchom)

1. Aug 11: India 0-3 USA

Aug 13: India 0-5 Argentina

Squad

1. Captain: Sushila Chanu

1. Vice Captain: Deepika

1. Goalkeeper: Savita

1. Defenders: Deep Grace Ekka, Deepika, Namita Toppo, Sunita Lakra, Sushila Chanu

1. Midfielders: Navjot Kaur, Monika, Renuka Yadav, Lilima Minz

1. Forwards: Anuradha Devi, Poonam Rani, Vandana Kataria, Rani Rampal, Preeti Dubey, Nikki PRadhan

Standby: Rajani Etimarpu, H. Lalruat Feli

History
Unlike the Men’s Hockey team’s glorious past, Indian Women’s team has struggled more to earn bigger results. In Moscow Olympics, 1980 they qualified in the Women’s league that had six teams. They won and lost 2 matches each matches, drew 1 finishing 4th. Zimbabwe (Gold), Czechoslovakia (Silver), and host Soviet Union (Bronze) were the medal winners decided on the Round Robin League system.

Indian women scored 9 goals and conceded 6 goals, earning 5 points. The top three teams won 3 matches each.
Results:

1. 1. Def Austria 2-0

1. 2. Def Poland 4-0

1. 3. Lost to Czechoslovakia 1-2

1. 4. Drew Zimbabwe 1-1

5. Lost to Soviet Union 1-3

Indian Squad in 1980 Olympics:
Margaret Toscano, Sudha Chaudhry, Gangotri Bhandari, Rekha Mundphan, Rup Kumari Saini, Varsha Soni, Eliza Nelson, Prem Maya Sonir, Nazleen Madraswalla, Selma d’Silva, Lorraine Fernandes, Harpreet Gill, Balwinder Kaur Bhatia, Geeta Sareen, Nisha Sharma, Hutoxi Bagli