Ritu Rani (born 29 December 1991) is an Indian former

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

player, who represented the

India women's national field hockey team The Indian women's national field hockey team represents India in international field hockey, and is governed by Hockey India. They are ranked 9th in the world and the second best team in Asia. They have won the gold at the 2002 Commonwealth ...

. She also served as the captain of the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

. She plays as a halfback. Rani has led the team to medal winning performances most notably the bronze at the

2014 Asian Games The 2014 Asian Games (), officially known as the 17th Asian Games () and also known as Incheon 2014 (), were a pan-Asian multi-sport event held from 19 September to 4 October 2014 in Incheon, South Korea. On 17 April 2007, Incheon was awarded ...

. Also under her captaincy the team qualified for the

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...

after 36 years after finishing fifth in the

2014–15 Women's FIH Hockey World League Semifinals The 2014–15 Women's FIH Hockey World League Semifinals took place in June and July 2015. A total of 20 teams competed in 2 events in this round of the tournament playing for 7 berths in the Final, played between 21 and 29 November 2015 in Rosario ...

Early life and career

Ritu Rani was born on 29 December 1991, in

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

. She did her schooling at the Sri Guru Nanak Dev Sr. Higher Secondary School in

Shahabad Markanda Shahabad Markanda is a sub-division of Kurukshetra district within the Indian state of Haryana. It is located on the left bank of the Markanda River, south of Ambala Cantonment and from the historical city of Kurukshetra. History The to ...

, Haryana. She took to hockey at the age of 9 and trained with the Shahbad Hockey Academy in Shahabad Markanda. Rani was employed with the

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

until 2014, when she quit to join the

Haryana Police The Haryana Police Department is the law enforcement agency for the state of Haryana, India. Present DGP of Haryana Police is Shatrujeet Singh Kapoor since August 16, 2023. He is an IPS officer of 1990 batch. History The Haryana Police were ...

. Rani trained at the Shahbad Hockey Academy at Shahabad.

Career

Rani made her debut in the senior team in 2006, at the

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

Doha Doha ( ) is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor (city), Al Khor and Lusail, it is home to most of the country's population. It ...

. She was a part of the Indian team that played the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams represe ...

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, and aged 14 at the time, she was the youngest in the squad. At the 2009 Champions Challenge II in

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, India won the tournament, with Rani finishing as the top scorer with eight goals to her name. She was appointed the captain of the team in 2011. Led by her, the team finished third at the 2013 Asia Cup in

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

and the

Incheon Incheon is a city located in northwestern South Korea, bordering Seoul and Gyeonggi Province to the east. Inhabited since the Neolithic, Incheon was home to just 4,700 people when it became an international port in 1883. As of February 2020, ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. During the summer of 2015 when India hosted the

Round 2 Round 2 may refer to: * ''Round 2'' (J. Holiday album), 2009 * ''Round 2'' (The Stylistics album), 1972 * Round 2 (company), a toy company based in Indiana, United States {{disambiguation ...

of the

2014–15 Women's FIH Hockey World League The 2014–15 Women's FIH Hockey World League was the second edition of women's field hockey national team league series. The tournament started in June 2014 in Singapore and finished in December 2015 in Rosario, Argentina. The Semifinals of thi ...

Rani led the team to finish on top to qualify for the next stage. She also led the side at the World League Semifinals held in

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

and the team finished in the fifth place beating higher ranked Japan in classification match. The Indian woman's national field hockey team thus qualified for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

for the first time since the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

under her captaincy. On qualifying for the

Rani said:

Awards, rewards and recognition

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards given for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjun ...

- 2016

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rani, Ritu 1991 births Living people Indian female field hockey players 21st-century Indian women 21st-century Indian people Asian Games bronze medalists for India Asian Games field hockey players for India Field hockey players at the 2006 Asian Games Field hockey players at the 2010 Asian Games Field hockey players at the 2014 Asian Games Field hockey players from Haryana Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Sportswomen from Haryana Recipients of the Arjuna Award South Asian Games gold medalists for India South Asian Games medalists in field hockey Field hockey players at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Field hockey players at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games field hockey players for India Asian Games bronze medalists in field hockey