Mahima Tete, the younger sister of Olympian Salima Tete, is among the three from the state who have been selected for the national junior women’s hockey squad and that made them the only-so-far sister duo from the state to represent the country in the game.

Hockey India selected three Jharkhand girls, all from Simdega — Beauty Dungdung, Mahima Tete and Deepika Soreng — as members of a 20-member Indian junior women’s hockey squad that will represent the country in the under-23 five-nation tournament slated to be held in Ireland next month.

“I don’t really know if any other sister duo from Jharkhand ever played hockey for the country,” Mahima said when contacted in Bangalore where they are attending a national training camp.

“I’m really glad (that I have been selected) and will try to give my best,” she further said, sounding as promising as her elder sister Salima who made her presence felt in the Tokyo Olympics last year.

“We are also not aware of any sister duo from the state that represented the country at international level,” said Hockey Jharkhand vice-president Manoj Konbegi who also heads the district unit of the state hockey organisation.

“I represented the state at nationals but not country,” Shashi Pradhan, elder sister of Nikki who also represented the country in the Tokey Olympics, replied when asked if they both played for the country.

“There are, however, three siblings — Bimal, Birendra and former women hockey team captain Asunta Lakra — from the state who all represented the country,” Konbegi pointed out, adding Beauty’s brother Sachin was also attending a junior men’s national camp and the siblings could qualify for this distinguished club, if he is selected.

There may be many such siblings in the country but only a few here in Jharkhand, Konbegi said when reminded of the likes of the hockey wizard Dhyanchand and his brother Roop Singh Baise, Rupa Saini and her sisters and Yuvraj and Devinder Walmiki.

Beauty played for the country before but Deepika and Mahima will do it for the first time in the 5-nation tournament to be held in Dublin during June 19-26.

The Indian girls will face their Irish hosts on the opening day (June 19) and the junior women from the Netherlands the next day.

The Indian team will then also play against the teams from Ukraine and the US on June 22 and 23 respectively.

The final match between the two top scoring teams in the round-robin format will be held on June 26 while the play-off match for determining the bronze winner has also been scheduled for the same day.