Indian Women's Hockey Team forward Vandana Katariya, who was part of India's historic fourth-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics, said the team is aiming to win gold at Commonwealth Games 2022.
Vandana achieved a rare feat by becoming the first Indian woman hockey player to score a hat-trick in the history of the Olympics. The hockey star has also been part of India's Gold medal win at the Asian Champions Trophy in 2016, Asia Cup in 2017, Asian Games Bronze in 2014 and Silver in 2018.
"Playing against South Africa I had no particular strategy because we just wanted to win that match and we did. The whole team did a great job in Tokyo. Hat-trick was a surprise for me but we went to the semi-finals, that was a big deal. We could not win gold in Tokyo but in Commonwealth Games (CWG) we want to bring a gold medal at home. And this will be our aim for CWG 2022," Vandana Katariya told ANI.
Talking about the strategy and team plan for the Commonwealth Games 2022, Katariya said, "Our strategy is nothing but work hard on our game and we want to come back home victorious and bring a gold medal for our country this time."
The double Olympian started her career playing for the Railway Sports Promotion Board and made it to the Indian Junior Women's team in 2006. Katariya was conferred with the Padma Shri by President Ram Nath Kovind in March in a ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Regarding the Padma Shri she received last month, Vandana said, "It is an honour for me to receive the Padma Shri Award. But it was surprising too because I was not expecting it at all. There were so many messages congratulating me on this I could not believe it so I handed my phone to someone to check it for me and she did confirm the news. So it was both honouring and shocking for me."
The Indian women's hockey team will face Ghana in its opener at the Commonwealth Games 2022 at the University of Birmingham on July 29.
( With inputs from ANI )
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