Gwalior (Madhya Pradesh), Jul 28 (UNI) A youngster who is considered by many as the backbone of the Indian Junior Women's Hockey Team, 20-year-old Ishika Chaudhary says she's ready to take the next step forward, but puts winning the Junior Women's Asia Cup with the Junior team on the number one spot on her priority list.
The midfielder who started playing the sport at the age of 11, has graduated from the Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy, and is one of the brightest prospects in the Indian Junior Women's Hockey Team.
Her journey from being an academy player to turning into one of the mainstays of the Junior team has been smooth, but the youngster credits her development to her Coaches and family.
"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," said Ishika who idolizes Indian Women's Hockey Team's Reena Khokhar, and fellow midfielder and FIH Women's Player of the Year 2019, Netherlands' Eva de Goede.
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 at the 3rd Hockey India Junior National Championship 2013 held in Ranchi. Ishika was part of a team which bagged the silver Medal, and her meteoric rise started off from there.
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