India women’s hockey skipper Ritu Rani’s Rio dream was shattered on Saturday when she was dropped from the squad bound for the August Games.
India women’s hockey skipper Ritu Rani’s Rio dream was shattered on Saturday when she was dropped from the squad bound for the August Games.
According to a senior member of the team management, lack of performance and attitude problem caused her exclusion.
The final squad of 16 is to be selected in next three days but Ritu has left the ongoing national camp in Bengaluru.
“It’s correct Ritu is not in the Olympic team. Her exclusion is solely on two counts — her (poor) performance and second is her attitude,” the person said.
“It has been explained to her time and again that she needs to lift her performance but she couldn’t do so. The camp is still going on in Bengaluru. It will disperse today (on Saturday) and tomorrow (on Sunday) we are reaching Delhi. Ritu left the camp day before yesterday (on Thursday).”
Under Ritu’s leadership, the women’s team qualified for the Olympics for the first time in 36 years.
The 24-year-old has been at the forefront of India women’s hockey for more than a decade and has been the key to the midfield. Despite repeated attempts, Ritu could not be reached for her comments. The leadership role could fall on another senior player Rani Rampal in Ritu’s absence.
However, Hockey India president Narender Batra tried to downplay the issue while calling it “immature” behaviour on part of the player.
“It’s really imature on part of Ritu because the team are not yet announced. It will be officially announced only on July 12 when I will publicly open the sealed envelope,” Batra said.
