Dream is to play for senior team, win Olympic medal: Indian Junior hockey team's Ishika Chaudhary

Indian Junior Women's hockey team's Ishika Chaudhary said her dream is to play for the senior team and win 'a lot of trophies' including medals at the Olympic Games.

Indian Junior Women's hockey team's Ishika Chaudhary said her dream is to play for the senior team and win 'a lot of trophies' including medals at the Olympic Games. "Like any other youngster, my eventual dream is to play for India and win a lot of trophies including medals at the Olympic Games. But at the same time, I am also focused on my immediate goal which is to win the 8th Junior Women's Asia Cup and secure our berth at the 2021 Junior Women's World Cup. I think securing that win would be a great reflection of how much we have developed as a team," signed off the youngster," Hockey India's official website quoted Chaudhary as saying.

The 20-year-old Chaudhary started playing the sport at the age of 11 and has graduated from the Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy. Chaudhary said her coaches and her family really helped along the way which allowed her to develop in the sport.

"When I first started off, I didn't really know how my initial years of my hockey career would pan out, but I think my coaches and my family really helped along the way. As a young player, you always want to get the right advice and learn from the best, and I'm so happy to have so many great people around me. You can see that in the journey that I've had so far," she said. The journey that 20-year-old spoke about was starting to play hockey in 2011, and then within two years, making it to Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy's Junior team which took part in the third Hockey India Junior National Championship 2013 held in Ranchi.

She was part of a team which bagged the Silver Medal, and her meteoric rise started off from there. The next few years saw her become an integral part of the Junior and Sub-Junior teams, and win the Gold Medal at the fourth Hockey India Sub-Junior National Championship 2014 in Pune, Bronze Medal at the sixth Hockey India Sub-Junior National Championship 2016 in Rohtak. "I feel it was a really nice break for me to have started off at such a great academy where we have a very good environment for hockey. It made sure that I could participate in top national tournaments and also excel at the same time," expressed Chaudhary.

It was in 2016 when the young Midfielder was selected to be a part of the Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy's Senior team which ended up winning the Bronze Medal at the sixth Hockey India Senior National Championship 2016 held in Bengaluru. Good performances made her stand-out and receive a call-up to the Junior National Camp, and the youngster from Gwalior hasn't looked back ever since. "When I look back, I think that selection for the Senior Nationals was one of the turning points in my career. It paved the way for my Junior India call-up and I am so happy that I have been able to perform well for my country since making my Junior team debut in 2017 at the Australian Hockey League (Women)," said Chaudhary, who was a Silver Medalist at the third Youth Olympic Games 2018. (ANI)

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