A Pride Moment for Davinder Bhatia, Anjali Sharma And Sonia Bathla

Davinder Bhatia, Anjali Sharma and Sonia Bathla are promoted to FIH Technical Category 3 for Outdoor Hockey. Hockey India on Wednesday congratulated them all. Davinder Bhatia, who was part of the Indian Women’s team that won the Gold Medal at the 1981 Asia Cup and 1982 Asian Games, has expressed his gratitude on these achievements. Sonia Bathla had started her career on the technical front when she became an Umpire with Hockey India in 2010. She had the experience of working as a Judge during the Hockey India League from 2013 - 2017. That exposure helped her taking up the role of Technical Official and was thereafter appointed by AHF in 2015. By that she was able to understand the technical aspects of being a Judge and officiating matches. There she also got familiar to Tournament Management System (TMS) software which is frequently used by FIH. Anjali Sharma believes that it is the effort of the Hockey India that is trying to encourage former players. It’s a matter of pride for her. Anjali Sharma had started her career as Technical Official in 2011 at Hockey India National Championships and after that she was selected by FIH. It is being considered that promotion of Davinder Bhatia, Anjali Sharma and Sonia Bathla will encourage many other women, especially former hockey players, to have the responsibility of Umpiring and Official and contribute to the sport.

By: Anita Aishvarya

Content: hockeyindia.org