Nineteen-year-old Simran Gurung, a resident of Jorethang in Sikkim, has become the first girl from her state to represent the senior Indian women’s national football team.

Simran has been selected to represent the senior national team in two friendly international matches to be conducted by FIFA against the Maldives.

“Her (Simran's) selection in the senior national side is definitely a proud moment for every soccer lover of Sikkim," said Phurba Sherpa, the general secretary of the Sikkim Football Association (SFA), on Wednesday.

"Her selection has been equally encouraging for many budding talents of the state who are raring to excel and join in the national side like her,” Sherpa.

Sources in the SFA said she was substituted in the first match that was held at Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence in Bangalore on December 30.

The Indian women's team in the first match outplayed the Maldives, 14-0. The team will play its second match on Thursday at the same venue.

SFA sources said that Simran was a student of the State Academy for Girls in Soreng.

She was spotted at the senior women’s national football championship that was held at Narayanpur in Chhattisgarh in December 2024

According to Sherpa, some other players like Anju Tamang and Priya Chhetri had represented Sikkim in the women’s national side. But the Soreng girl’s selection was different.

“Anju hailed from the Dooars in Bengal. She was spotted by Palden Bhutia, a sports enthusiast of west Sikkim who trained her in his academy in Mangalbarey. Priya was selected for the Under-17 national team in 2022. But Simran is the first Sikkim girl to represent the senior national side,” the SFA official said.

Joakim Alexandersson, the head coach of the national women’s team, had put out a list of footballers to play two friendly international matches against the Maldives. Simran was picked as a forward.

The SFA general secretary said Simran's selection proved there were many promising players in the Himalayan state.

“The All India Football Federation encourages women’s football. The FIFA ranking of our national team is 69. There are prospects for our national side to qualify for the FIFA World Cup for women. We are hopeful that a player from Sikkim will represent the women's World Cup someday,” added Sherpa.