Indian Women’s Hockey team defender Akshata Dhekale proud to debut against Germany at home

The Indian Women’s Hockey team played out two matches against Germany in the FIH Hockey Pro League. While both matches ended in a draw in regulation time, India and Germany shared a penalty shootout each to add more points to the tally.

The two legged matches against Germany also saw young defender Akshata Abaso Dhekale make her national team debut for India. It was a proud moment for the youngster as she donned the Indian blue for the first time. She shared her experience of wearing the Indian jersey for the first time and how proud she feels to represent the Indian Eves.

“It was a very proud moment for me to be a part of the team. My family was very happy as well. I made my debut in the home ground and it was an unforgettable experience,” Akshata said.

Akshata shared how the seniors have always motivated her and calmed her nerves ahead of the matches. She revealed how the players felt that she was good considering that it was her debut but the youngster personally felt she had made some errors.

“My teammates have told me that performance was good considering it was my first tournament. But I felt I made a few errors in the second game due to pressure. I gained a lot of experience in the two games and I hope to improve my game going forward,” she added.

Akshata Dhekale is a young defender hailing from the Satara district of Maharashtra. In her early days, Akshata used to train at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex in Pune. She went on to lead Maharashtra at the Junior Nationals tournament in Kerala in 2019. Her performances in the junior level caught the eyes of the selectors and therefore she was selected for India’s Junior Women’s team camp and later became a part of the Junior team that travelled to Chile for the six-match series last year.

The youngster having made her debut shared the difference between Junior and senior level in women’s hockey. She shared, “There is a lot of difference between playing at the junior and senior levels. The game speed is quite high at the senior level and the standards are very high.”

“Playing against Germany, I realised I have to improve quite a lot to play regularly at this level. I am ready to work hard to ensure I keep getting a chance to play consistently for the senior team,” she added.

Both of India’s matches against Germany reached the shootouts after finishing 1-1 draw inside regulation time. The first match saw India make some glaring mistakes in the shootout and gift the points to the German. But the hosts came back strongly and won the second shootout to level things up from the two-legged FIH Hockey Pro League fixtures.