Women's HIL: Who are the captains and coaches of the four teams?

The inaugural edition of the Women's Hockey India League – a four-team competition – is all set to commence on 12 January in Ranchi, Jharkhand.

The tournament will be played in a double round-robin format with each team playing the other twice. The top two teams in the points table at the end of the league stage will qualify for the final and fight for the first-ever women's HIL title.

Here, we take a look at the captains and coaches for the Women's HIL:

Soorma Hockey Club

The Soorma Hockey Club will have co-captains in the Women's Hockey India League. The experienced goalkeeper Savita Punia and the current Indian captain Salima Tete are expected to share the leadership responsibility.

Expect Tete to have the captain's armband though and walk out for the toss. The 23-year-old will be playing the tournament in front of her home crowd and surely attract a large number of supporters for her team.

Guiding Tete and Punia as the coach will be Jude Menezes. He is a former Olympian, who represented India at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Menezes was also the coach of the Japan women's team, which competed at the 2024 Paris Olympics last year.

Delhi SG Pipers

The Delhi SG Pipers have named experienced India forward Navneet Kaur as their captain. She will be assisted by Belgian defender Emma Puvrez as the vice-captain.

Having made her international debut more than a decade back in 2014, Kaur has represented India in 178 matches and scored 53 goals in this period. She has established herself as a vital cog in the Indian women's team over the last few years.

Meanwhile, Dave Smolenaars will take over as the head coach for the Pipers. The Dutchman was appointed as analytical coach of the Indian women's team last year.

Tushar Khandekar will be Smolenaars' lieutenant as the assistant coach.

Odisha Warriors

Indian international Neha Goyal will be the captain for Odisha Warriors in the Women's Hockey India League. She will have the young Ishika Chaudhary as her deputy.

An experienced midfielder, Goyal has 169 international caps to her name with 20 goals to go with them. She made her debut for India in 2014 and has since established herself as an important part of the Indian midfield.

The 28-year-old Goyal will have a familiar face in Janneke Schopman as the Odisha Warriors' coach.

Schopman was the Indian women's team head coach for three years following the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She, however, made a controversial exit from the setup last year as India failed to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Schopman will have a point to prove to the Indian hockey administrators and fans in general and it would be interesting to watch how it pans out.

Rarh Bengal Tigers

Indian defender Udita Duhan will lead the Rarh Bengal Tigers as the captain in the Women's Hockey India League. The 26-year-old Duhan has represented India in 123 matches, since making her debut in 2017.

Duhan will have Australia's Glenn Turner as the head coach at the Rarh Bengal Tigers. The 40-year-old Turner is a two-time World Cup winner and also has an Olympic bronze medal from the 2012 London Games to his name.