Bhubaneswar: Adding another feather to her cap, Odisha Olympian Deep Grace Ekka and India women hockey team’s reliable defender has been named vice-captain for the FIH Women’s Hockey World Cup 2022.
The Hockey India on Tuesday announced the national team for the World Cup to be held in Netherlands and Spain from July 1 to 17. The Indian team will be captained by ace goalkeeper Savita in the absence of Rani Rampal, the former skipper who is still undergoing rehabilitation for a hamstring injury, while Deep Grace Ekka will be her deputy.
Deep played an important role in Indian women’s team performance in a FIH Pro League fixture in Rotterdam where they stunned Olympic silver-medallists Argentina earlier this month. The teams were tied 3-3 in regulation time, before India triumphed 2-1 in the shootout.
Deep, who has donned 150 international caps, represented the country in two Olympics at Rio in 2016 and Tokyo 2020. She was also the vice-captain in the last Olympics.
Born in Odisha’s hockey cradle Sundargarh district, Deep started playing her favourite sport in her school days.
During a round of hockey selections at her school, she was selected to join the SAI-SAG centre of the Sports Authority of India in 2007 and started playing at state level at the age of 13. She was coached by Lucela Ekka and Saroj Mohanty.
She was part of Odisha team that won the title in National School (U-17) Hockey Championship in 2009. She had helped Odisha finish runners-up in the Women’s National Sports Festival at Bhopal in 2010. She was also a member of the Odisha team that finished 3rd in the inaugural Hockey India Senior National Championship at Sonepat in 2011.
She was also selected for the Junior National Camp and travelled to Bangkok for the Junior Asia Cup. She played at the senior nationals in Sonepat at the age of 16.
Deep made her international debut in the Four-Nation Tournament in Argentina in 2011 when India won bronze medal.
