Monika has been a mainstay of the India national team since 2013, the same year she represented her country at the Junior World Cup in Mönchengladbach, Germany, where the team won bronze after defeating England in a shoot-out. Her most recent exploits have been as part of the India team that finished fourth at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 – losing to Great Britain in the bronze medal match but winning hearts and minds across the globe with their gutsy performances.
Ishika Chaudhary is at the start of her international career with eight U21 and 13 U18 matches to her name, including the 2018 Youth Olympic Games, where her team won silver, after losing to Australia in the final.
Talking about the past few years since she represented India at the 2013 Junior World Cup, Monika spoke about the trajectory that the team has been on, performing well at the 2018 Women’s World Cup and the 2018 Commonwealth Games, where they finished fourth, before the most recent success in Tokyo.
‘In the past few years, we have just kept going up and we are now regularly in the top four at major competitions,’ she said. ‘Because of Covid, the team stayed together for two years without going home. So we just focused and put all our energy into training and the benefit of that could be seen when we finished fourth at the Olympic Games.’
‘Seeing the success of the senior team, and their performance at the Olympics, it is great to be training alongside them,’ said Ishika. ‘We are really looking forward to finishing the year with a good performance from our team at the Junior World Cup.’
‘There is a little pressure on us because of the medal success of the men’s and women’s teams, so it would be nice to also be successful.’
Monika recalled that in 2013, India’s first match was a 8-0 defeat at the hands of Australia. ‘We didn’t let our heads go down after that result,’ she said. ‘Instead we stuck together and began to get things right. We ended up with a bronze medal and that was one of the best moments of my life. It was so, so amazing.
‘I wanted to say to Ishika, don’t let the pressure get to you. Play your own game. We have played alongside the U21 and they are very good players.’
Both athletes agreed that participating in events such as the Junior World Cup was a great grounding for athletes as they progressed and developed.
‘If we only play Asian countries, then we only get to see their style of play. We [the senior squad] played test matches against Argentina before the Olympic Games and that really helped us develop our game and our confidence.’
India will be travelling to South Africa in the next two weeks. Once there, Ishika says the team will be acclimatising and getting used to the hot weather. ‘We will be focusing on recovery and getting used to the conditions.’
‘Ishika is a great player,’ said Monika. ‘She has a lot of control and she is a good organiser of the defence. This is a great opportunity to learn lot of things. It is fine to be nervous but just stay in the present moment.’
Watch the full interview on Watch.Hockey.
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