One of the promising forwards to have played in the Senior Indian Women's National Team in recent years, Sandhiya Ranganathan, is currently showcasing her talents in the Senior Women's National Football Championship 2021-22 in Kerala.
Sandhiya hails from Tamil Nadu and she is currently representing her state in the Senior Women's NFC this season, where she has netted 12 goals in the group stage.
Having started playing at the age of six, football was Sandhiya's ticket to freedom as she grew up in a government-run hostel, and was not allowed to go outside. But she was amazed by the way her seniors would play football which became the turning point in her life. Despite all the challenges she joined sports and slowly football became her life.
The young forward was first called up for the Senior National Team in 2018 ahead of the COTIF Women's Cup in Spain. However, it was her performance in the SAFF Women's Championship 2019, and in the AFC Women's Olympic Qualifiers Round 2 that captured the imagination of the fans.
"The practice and endurance sessions in the national camp helped me a lot since I joined the Tamil Nadu team directly from the National camp. I felt like a foreign player here sometimes," said Sandhiya as reported by AIFF.
She has been part of the senior national women's squad which travelled to the UAE, Bahrain, and Sweden to play some friendly matches against UAE, Tunisia, Bahrain, Chinese Taipei, Hammarby IF and Djurgarden IF as a part of their preparation for the upcoming AFC Women's Asian Cup next year.
"We gained a lot of valuable experience with the National Team in those six matches. Now the team had also gone to Brazil and played against some of the best teams in the world. Yes, I've missed out on that, but I am not one to dwell on missed opportunities. I work with what I have and I want to do well in the Senior Women's NFC so that when I re-join the National Team, I can continue with the same competitive spirit," said Sandhiya.
In the ongoing Senior NFC, she has scored 12 goals in three matches and is so far the highest scorer so far, after the completion of the group stage. Tamil Nadu is placed in Group H with Punjab, West Bengal, and Telangana.
( With inputs from ANI )
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