Jharkhand’s sports fraternity was ecstatic after Hockey India announced on Thursday that two players from the state, Nikki Pradhan and Salima Tete, were part of the India women's squad for the Tokyo Olympics scheduled to begin next month.

The news is a great morale booster for the state’s hockey fraternity amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. While Nikki becomes the first woman hockey player of Jharkhand to represent India in the Olympics twice, it is also the first time in the history of Jharkhand that two players from the state will be in the same Olympic team (hockey).

The full hockey squad Picture courtesy Hockey Jharkhand

Twenty-six year old Nikki is from Khunti and had represented the country in the Rio Olympics in 2016. For 22-year-old Salima from Simdega, it will be her first mega outing. Both are defenders in the squad. And bBoth are currently at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Bangalore undergoing training.

“I am happy to have made it to the squad, but equally elated that two of us from Jharkhand will be playing alongside in the same team for India in the Olympic games,” Nikki told The Telegraph Online over phone from Bangalore.

While big-ticket tournaments and sporting activities have gradually resumed in other countries in the recent months, it is yet to do so in India, which is passing through a brutal second wave of Covid-19. Although, cases of new infection across the country is currently on a downward trend, full-fledged sporting activities are yet to be allowed with several states continuing with restrictions to cut transmission of the virus.

Players pose for a group photo at SAI Bangalore. Picture courtesy Hockey Jharkhand

In Jharkhand too, stadiums are still to be thrown open and sporting events have largely remained restricted since March.

“For players, the pandemic posed lots of unforeseen challenges. But I tried to stay focussed on my goal. In terms of safety, I maintain high standards of hygiene and follow Covid appropriate behavior,” Nikki said, adding that she has been lucky to have been unaffected by the virus so far.

Nikki and her team mates have already received both doses of the vaccine. India probables have been training at the Sports Authority of India campus in Bangalore for a year now.

“We rarely stepped out of the campus in the last one year, except when we were allowed to go to our hometowns. On campus, we have a gym, play grounds and other facilities which helped us practise and maintain our fitness,” she said.

The only challenge for most of the team members will be the lack of enough match practice in foreign conditions. “Due to the pandemic, we couldn’t play enough matches both in India and outside in the run up to the Olympics. Although we did practise within ourselves but experience of matches is different,” she said.

Hockey Jharkhand president Bholanath Singh was in a celebratory mood. “Our girls have made us proud. We hope they make the country proud too,” he said.

Hockey Simdega president Manoj Konbegi said Nikki and Salima have created history. “Two players from our state in the same team is a first," he said.