Don't know the reason I've been kept out of team: Rani

In a bid to strengthen the grassroots structure of the sport in India, Hockey India (HI) following its Executive Board (EB) meeting on Thursday announced that for the first time, they will be forming national sub-junior teams that will have national camps and get exposure tours just like the junior and senior sides.

- Sandip Sikdar

In addition, former India skippers Sardar Singh and Rani Rampal will coach the new men's and women's outfits.

However, the announcement opened a Pandora's box which has been under wraps for quite a while.

Rani, who guided the women's team to an unprecedented fourth-place finish at the Olympics two years back, has been out of the team since Tokyo, playing only five matches since then and not a single one since January. While the 28-year-old was initially out due to a hamstring issue, doubts about why she was not on the team began rising last year.

A veteran of 254 internationals, Rani travelled to Europe in June 2022 to play her first match since Tokyo 2020. She was dropped after playing only one match and had to wait another seven months to play four games on the tour of South Africa in January.

Taking up the role of a coach raised one question: Is Rani retiring and taking up coaching?

But the former India skipper, who helped India qualify for the Olympics after a gap of 36 years in Rio 2016, clearly said she is not hanging up her boots yet.