Height 159 cm (5 ft 3 in) Name Vandana Kataria 2010–present India | Current club Railways Playing position | |
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Born 15 April 1992 (age 32)
Uttar Pradesh, India ( 1992-04-15 ) | ||
Vandana kataria hockey india player of the year women 2015
Vandana Kataria (born 15 April 1992) is an Indian field hockey player. She plays as a forward in the Indian national team. Vandana tasted success in 2013 emerging as the country’s top goal-scorer, helping India bag a coveted bronze medal in the Junior Women’ World Cup in Monchengladbach, Germany – her five goals made her the third highest goal-scorer of the tournament. She has cited Argentine Luciana Aymar as her favorite player. Vandana has scored more than 35 goals in 130 appearances for the national team.
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Early life
Vandana Kataria was born on 15 April 1992, in Uttar Pradesh (now in Uttarakhand). Her father Nahar Singh works as a master technician in BHEL. Hailing from Roshanabad village in Haridwar district, Vandana is one of the most improved players upfront for India in the last couple of years. The youngster first made her junior international debut in 2006 before going on to make her senior international debut four years later.
Career
Kataria was picked in the Indian junior team in 2006 and she made it to the senior national team in 2010. She was a part of the team that won bronze at the 2013 Junior World Cup in Mönchengladbach, Germany. She was India's top scorer in the tournament, having scored 5 goals in 4 games. In an interview she called the bronze medal her favorite moment, "It has to be when we won the bronze medal at the World Cup in Germany. My father was called by the media and he had tears in his eyes. So, making my father proud is the best moment of my hockey career." She won her 100th cap while playing against Canada in 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. "We clearly missed Vandana during the Hawke's Bay Cup. Her being back in the team strengthens our attack as she is good with speed and skill, to break the defence chain, which at times leaves the opponents on the back foot," said Kataria's 21-year-old teammate Poonam Rani. At the Round 2 of the 2014–15 FIH Hockey World League, she finished with 11 goals top-scorer, with India winning the tournament. "In my book, Vandana is one of the top forwards in world hockey. She is quick, can score goals, can defend and is improving all the time," Indian women’s hockey team’s stop-gap coach Roelant Oltmans said after her performance in Round 2 League.
After qualifying for 2016 Summer Olympics Kataria said :
