India’s Senior Women’s National Team head coach Thomas Dennerby announced a 23-member squad for the preparatory tours to Jordan and Uzbekistan in March. The Blue Tigresses will play friendly matches in Jordan between March 17 to March 22, and in Uzbekistan between March 23 to March 29 as the last set of preparation before Round 1 of the 2024 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifiers gets underway in April 2023.
India will take on hosts Kyrgyz Republic and Turkmenistan in a round-robin format in Group G of the qualifiers. Whoever finishes at the top will meet Asia’s five highest-ranked teams namely DPR Korea, Japan, Australia, China and the Republic of Korea in the second round of qualifiers to be held in October. The final squad for the 2024 AFC Women's Olympic Qualifiers after the friendlies in Jordan and Uzbekistan.
Past performance
India carried forward the disappointment of their elimination from the 2022 SAFF Women’s Championship into the two friendlies against the competition host, Nepal last month. The Blue Tigresses led 2-0 in the first game through strikes from Soumya Guguloth and Indumathi Kathiresan for 89 minutes but then collapsed at the death with a quick-fire brace from Sabitra Bhandari, who played in India for IWL champion Gokulam Kerala FC Women’s team. The other game, only days after, ended in a 0-0 stalemate with both sides failing to take their chances.
Squad
Goalkeepers: Sowmiya Narayanasamy, Shreya Hooda and Elangbam Panthoi Chanu.
Defenders: Ashalata Devi Loitongbam, Sweety Devi Ngangbam, Ritu Rani, Ranjana Chanu Sorokhaibam, Michel Castanha, Dalima Chhibber, Manisa Panna and Juli Kishan.
Midfielders: Shilky Devi Hemam, Anju Tamang, Indumathi Kathiresan, Sangita Basfore, Roja Devi Asem, Karthika Angamuthu and Kashmina.
Forwards: Grace Dangmei, Renu, Karishma Shirvoikar, Sandhiya Ranganathan and Apurna Narzary.
Head Coach: Thomas Dennerby
Team’s number one Aditi Chauhan and all-time top goalscorer Bala Devi did not make the squad this time around due to injuries sustained in the friendlies against Nepal last month. However, captain and defender Ashalata Devi is back in the mix after missing both games in Chennai for a knee injury. Shilky Devi Hemam has been called back to the senior national team having played the Asian Cup qualifiers and the SAFF Championship with the U-20 squad. Apurna Narzary has also been called up with her being in goal-scoring form from those competitions. Soumya Guguloth misses out despite scoring in the 2-2 draw against Nepal in February 2023 as well as Manisha Kalyan.
Fixtures
Saturday, 18 March 2023
Jordan vs India - Amman, Jordan
Tuesday, 21 March 2023
Jordan vs India - Amman, Jordan
Tuesday, 28 March 2023
Uzbekistan vs India - Tashkent, Uzbekistan
The senior women’s team will play two friendlies against Jordan to begin the tour. The hosts are ranked 69th in the FIFA rankings and lost the previous meeting with the Blue Tigresses 1-0 in Zarqa last year. Manisha Kalyan scored the only goal for the win in the 48th minute. India will take on Uzbekistan next toward the end of March 2023 whom they had a bitter experience facing last time out. The 49th-ranked nation thrashed the Blue Tigresses 7-1 in the 2017 AFC Women’s Asian Cup qualification.
