Deep Grace Ekka: Hockey India Awards will motivate us to perform better

The 25-year-old defender has been nominated for two awards this year.

The Indian Hockey Women's Team Defender Deep Grace Ekka has been nominated for Hockey India Dhruv Batra Player of the Year and Hockey India Pargat Singh Award for Defender of the Year at the Hockey India 3rd Annual Awards 2019.

The much-awaited event is slated to be held in New Delhi on Sunday. These awards are given to the players who performed brilliantly during a year.

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Deep Grace Ekka, who made vital contributions to the Indian team's victories in the FIH Women's Series Finals and FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers last year, expressed that the Hockey India Awards will motivate the players to perform even better.

"It's a very important year for hockey teams and I'm sure these awards will only motivate us to better and better. It feels very good to be nominated in two categories. The awards have always been a big motivation for all of us," said the defender.

Deep Grace Ekka stressed on the fact that she was inspired to play even better for the team when she saw her teammates winning the awards in the past.

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"I've never won a Hockey India Award earlier but whenever my teammates have been honoured in the past, I felt very motivated to perform well for my team and be recognized too", said the Defender.

Deep Grace Ekka will be up against Gurjit Kaur, Rani and Savita in the Player of the Year award category. Indian team Captain Rani said that she is honoured to be nominated for the award.

Rani said, "Being nominated for the Player of the Year award is a huge honour for me. Our team has put up some excellent performances in the last year and I am looking forward to all of my teammates being recognized in the event."

Defender Gurjit Kaur expressed that she has performed well in the last year only because of her team.

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"I am extremely delighted to be nominated for the Player of the Year award. However, I am being recognized for my efforts only because of my wonderful team. We have coordinated extremely well in the last year and therefore we have produced excellent results," said Kaur.

Goalkeeper Savita said that the Hockey India Awards will be a huge motivation in an important year.

Savita remarked, "If an Olympics is scheduled, then that year is a very important one and 2020 is not any different. I am sure the Hockey India Awards will inspire all players to put up their best performance at the Olympics."

Personally, it's a very special feeling to be nominated for the Hockey India Dhruv Batra Player of the Year 2019 (Women), however, this has been possible only because of the work put in by the entire team," she concluded.