Deepika Kumari (field hockey)

Deepika Kumari (born 6 December 2003) is a field hockey player and member of Indian women's hockey team. She hails from Hisar, Haryana. She plays for Indian Oil Corporation Limited in the domestic hockey tournaments. She has ten caps as a Senior India player. She plays as a forward and specialises in drag-flicks.

Early life
Deepika Kumari started as wrestler and used to practice along with her brother. One day in 2012, on way to wrestling practice she picked up a hockey stick for fun and soon it became her mainstay.

Hockey career
Deepika made her Junior debut for the country in 2018 at the Youth Olympic Qualifiers in March 2018. Later she also took part in the Hockey women's Junior World Cup 2021 in Potchefstroom, South Africa and was part of the Indian team that won gold at the Women's Junior Asia Cup. Deepika first came to limelight with a stellar performance in the 2018 Sub-Junior National Championships in her hometown Hisar, where she scored 16 goals for Haryana. Haryana went to win the Sun-Junior Nationals and Deepika was adjudged as the 'Best Player' of the tournament. Then she was called for the National camp and was selected for the Indian team for the Youth Olympic qualifier. She made her debut for Senior India in the FIH Pro League 2021-2022 held in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. In 2020, she was part of the Junior India women's tour of Chile where she played a key role in the Indian team's unbeaten run.