Ritu is a hockey player and former captain of Indian Women’s Hockey team. She plays at half back.
Rani lead the team to medal winning performances e.g., winning a bronze medal in 2014 Asian Games. It was under her captaincy that the team qualified for Olympics after 36 years, after finishing fifth in the 2014-2015 Women’s FIH Hockey World League Semi-finals.
But then came the news that Ritu has not only been removed as the captain of the team but also removed from the team of 20 players.
The Indian media reported that Ritu’s performance and form was not up to scratch and she was warned many times about it. But she could not lift her game and that’s why she was sacked. Reports also emerged that she had an attitude problem and that she was not focused. Some reported that Ritu left her camp to attend her own engagement to singer Harsh Sharma from Patiala.
When contacted, Ritu rani told Preeti McCarthy from SBS Punjabi that all these allegations are not true and that the officials have made up excuses to sack her from the team.
Ritu believes that her form and fitness was up to scratch and that she was never warned about anything before the sacking. She expressed her frustration saying that even if they had to sack her from the team, they should not make up stories about her performance.
“I have been the Captain of the team for four years. If my fitness and performance wasn’t good, I would not have survived for this long.”
Regarding her engagement, she clarified that she did not leave a running camp to get engaged.
“I got engaged on the 12th of June. The camp was on a break from 5th June to the 15th of June and everyone had gone home. That’s when I got engaged”
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“Not a single player in the team can say that I have an attitude problem. I’ve never had an argument with anyone”
Ritu says that she has tried to contact the officials regarding this matter but she has not been given a proper answer.
“They only told me that they can only go by what the coach and selectors have told them”.
Ritu expressed her disappointment saying that she worked hard to come to this point and that she should have at least been kept in the team as she deserves to be there.
When asked about her future, she said that everything is now finished. The main aim was to work towards qualifying and when we did, it has been taken from us.
Ritu has been playing hockey for over 10 years and has played more than 200 games.
