Three Jharkhand girls, all from Simdega, have secured berths in the India squad for the Women’s FIH Hockey Junior World Cup, to be played in South Africa next month.

Midfielder Salima Tete, who represented the country in Tokyo Olympics last year, has been named the captain of the 20-member national squad, while Sangita Kumari and Beauty Dundung have been selected as forwards.

This is the 9th edition of the biennial women’s under-21 field hockey world championship, organised by the International Hockey Federation.

“Besides her impressive performances in Tokyo Olympics, Salima also captained the national team in the past and helped the country win medals,” said Hockey Jharkhand vice-president Manoj Konbegi. Konbegi also heads the district unit of Simdega that is considered as hockey nursery of Jharkhand.

“Both Sangita and Beauty are very dependable forwards and Beauty was top scorer during India’s Chile tour last year,” Konbegi added.

All three of them are currently attending a national training camp in Bhubaneswar. While Salima hails from Barki Chhapar village of Simdega, both Sangita and Beauty belong to the same village, Kargaguri.

The tourney was initially scheduled to be held in Potchefstroom in South Africa in December 2021, but had to be postponed due to upsurge in infection caused by a new Covid variant and rescheduled for April 2022 at the same venue.

Altogether 16 teams will be vying for the world title. While South Africa qualified as the host country, 15 other teams were chosen through 5 continental competitions.

India has been placed in group D and will start its campaign by taking on Wales on April 2, Konbegi informed. India’s next two group matches will be against Germany and Malaysia on April 3 and April 5 respectively.

“It’s an achievement for our girls and other girls will be inspired by them,” said an ecstatic Hockey Jharkhand president Bholanath Singh.

“I would rather consider it as a Holi gift for us all,” said general secretary Vijay Shankar Singh.