Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], September 11 (ANI): A fortnight in the past, when Sonika’s mom boarded a flight from Delhi to reach in Bengaluru to attend Sunehra Safar – a particular send-off ceremony hosted by Hockey India little did the 26-year-old participant know that she would obtain her India jersey by her mom forward of the all-important Hangzhou Asian Games, which is scheduled to be held from September 23 to October 8 2023.
“It was truly a special moment, especially to receive the jersey in front of a big audience which included all my teammates. Those few minutes on the stage brought back all the memories of my struggle and facing challenges to get here and my mother has been equally part of this journey – always supporting me at every crucial juncture,” acknowledged an emotional Sonika.
The midfielder from Hisar, Haryana made her senior staff debut on the Hawke’s Bay Cup in New Zealand again in 2016. She was a part of the staff that received the Gold medal on the Women’s Asia Cup in 2017 and featured within the Ready Steady Tokyo occasion in 2019.
But the next yr put a pause in her budding profession. In 2020, she needed to depart the National Camp to hunt skilled assist to enhance her psychological wellbeing. “Covid lockdown was not kind to me. It was a tough phase personally and I am so glad that my struggle to stay strong mentally through this phase was recognized very early on by the team management and I was provided with professional help. Looking back, I am very grateful to Hockey India and my teammates for allowing me this break,” acknowledged Sonika on reflection.
Having made a comeback within the nationwide staff in 2021/ 22 on the FIH Hockey Pro League after a robust efficiency in that yr’s National Championships, Sonika has solely risen in her profession. She has been a daily function within the staff, having performed a component within the historic Bronze medal win on the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games in addition to the title win on the FIH Nations Cup 2022.
“I am extremely excited and eager to play my first ever Asian Games. I have put in a lot of hard work to reach this stage in my career and having picked up good results in major events like CWG, the team is very confident of a good show. After Hockey India’s Sunehra Safar event, the team is all the more motivated and inspired to bring laurels to the country, as well as our families. Our focus is purely on winning the Gold and doing well in the Paris Olympics 2024,” Sonika signed off.
India is grouped in Pool A with Korea, Malaysia, Hong Kong China and Singapore. They will start their marketing campaign on September 27 towards Singapore. (ANI)