New Delhi: Five under-16 girls from Mizoram are among the 15 hockey players selected by the Sports Authority of India to be inducted into the various National Centres of Excellence (NCOEs).
The girls have been chosen after the conclusion of the 2024-25 season of the ASMITA League matches.
The 15 selected for training at the NCOEs include three players from Haryana and two each from Jharkhand and Odisha, besides girls from Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh.
Piyush Dubey, the High Performance Director for hockey at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Khelo India, stated that the selection of these girls was made with a focus on future Olympic Games.
“We have to think of a pathway and these girls have the potential to make it to the senior national team. In the last three-four years, ASMITA has provided the opportunity to see so many players in action and this is a welcome change in our hockey ecosystem. This did not exist before,” said Dubey.
Notably, six teams featuring 120 under-16 players took part in the ASMITA sub-junior hockey league’s final phase.
Dubey said the Mizoram girls have shown immense improvement in the last five-six years and credit goes to the coaches who are working at the SAI centre in Thenzawl.
The Sports Authority of India has established National Centres of Excellence (NCOEs) across the country to impart specialized training to promising athletes by providing state-of-the-art infrastructure and playing facilities, sports science backup, individualized diet prescribed by trained nutritionists and overall supervision under the best coaches , qualified support staff and High Performance Directors.
The National Centres of Excellence operate as regular coaching camps for the best available talent in India.
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Lalrothuami, who played for India at the junior level in 2009, noted the growing interest in hockey among young girls, with approximately 40 currently training at the SAI centre.
“Our players need more competitive exposure and a better training ecosystem. In terms of skills, all players are more or less equal, but Mizo girls are stronger and have the stamina. We hope they will utilise the facilities at NCOEs well,” Lalrothuami added.
