5 players who made it big from India's 2013 World Cup bronze-winning Junior Hockey Team

The current Indian women's junior hockey team is performing incredibly well in South Africa and has qualified for the semifinals of the 2022 Women's Junior World Cup. So far, India has been unbeaten in the tournament and is aiming to win its first junior hockey World Cup title.

India's best campaign at the Junior World Cup was back in 2013 when we won the bronze medal. However, the team back then was different and many of the players are a part of the senior team and also played at the Olympics.

Here are the Top 5 players from the 2013 Women's Junior World Cup bronze medal-winning team and where are they now.

Rani Rampal

The skipper of the senior women's hockey team was a part of the 2013 junior team and won the 'Player of the Tournament'. Rani Rampal is one of the biggest names in Indian hockey and successfully led her team during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, which was the team's best feature in Olympics history, as they finished in the 4th position. She led the Indian women's hockey team as captain in the 2018 Asian Games, where they won a silver medal and was India's flag-bearer for the closing ceremony of the games. Rampal has also been honoured with the prestigious Khel Ratna and Padma Shri awards,

Vandana Katariya

The two-time Olympian now has more than 250 international caps and was India's highest goal scorer during the 2021 Olympics. The same year, she also became the first Indian to score a hat-trick at the Olympics. She was also a part of the Indian team that won a bronze medal at the 2014 Asian Games and a silver medal at the 2018 Asian Games. Katariya has been awarded the Arjuna Award and Padma Shri for her incredible contributions to the game.

Sushila Chanu

Sushila Chanu was the captain of the Indian women's junior team and led her team to win their first medal at the World Cup. Chanu later captained the senior team in the 2016 Rio Olympics, under her leadership Indian women's team played its first Olympics in 36 years. Recently, in March 2022, Chanu achieved the milestone of 200 international caps during India's first match against Germany in the 2021-22 Women's FIH Pro League.

Navneet Kaur

Navneet Kaur made her debut on the senior hockey team in 2014 and has been always been a part of the squad ever since. At the 2021 Olympics, Navneet scored a late goal against Ireland and helped the team reach the quarterfinals. In 2016, she won the Asian Champions Trophy followed by the Asia Cup in the year 2017 and was part of the 2018 World Cup squad.

Deep Grace Ekka

The defender who played a crucial role in the 2013 Asia Cup, has 150 international appearances and three goals with the senior team. Grace has many achievements to her name including the 2017 Asia Cup gold medal, 2018 Asian Games silver and many more. Over the years Grace has won many awards for her contribution to Indian hockey and has been honoured with the Arjuna Award in 2018.