Netball player Amandeep Kaur begins outdoor training, eyes gold for India at Asian Women Netball Championship 2020

New Delhi, June 21: A rising star in the India women's netball team Amandeep Kaur has started her outdoor training soon after relaxation provided to sportspersons in the Unlock Phase-I in the wake of novel coronavirus pandemic.

Amandeep, who hails from Haryana, was part of the Indian women's team that made into the quarterfinals of the 11th Asian Youth Netball Championship 2019 held in Kushima, Japan and now she eyes a gold for the country.

Talking about her journey the 20-year-old said, "Sports is something that I have inherited from my parents. My father Darshan Singh was a national level football player while my mother has represented India in volleyball. Both my parents have always encouraged me and my sister to take up sports and they have been very supportive."

"During school days, I was among the tallest girls of my class and due to my height teachers made me take up basketball. Gradually I picked up the sport and played state level for Haryana and followed it with nationals for Kendra Vidyalaya. Later, I also took part in the National School Games in 2016," said Amandeep.

Talking about her transition from Basketball to Netball Amandeep mentions, "Basketball is my sport and I am in love with this game. However, when I went to college, there, I first came to know about netball. I found it easier to play and understand and since I was already a national level player in Basketball, my college coaches thought I could be good at netball too, and guess what, it seems they said the truth."

She further mentioned, "The year 2019 turned out to be fruitful for me. I represented Haryana in the national handball championship in Bengaluru and impressed by my skills in the nationals and I was invited for trials for the India women's team camp for 11th Asian Youth Netball Championship 2019."

Answering how she felt after getting selected into the India team Amandeep said, "I remember when I saw my name in the final list, the feeling was something that I still find hard to express in words. I think each sport may be treated differently but the feeling of having to represent the country is same across all sportspersons. When you wear the Indian team jersey it seems like all the hard work that you have put in the field while training has finally paid off and the pain that one went through during training is worth it. When my parents came to know about my selection they were on cloud nine."

Further discussing her sports idols Amandeep said, "My mother has been my greatest source of inspiration. She was the one who always wanted one of her child to play for the country in any sport. She has worked hard my fitness, my diet, my health and everything and she still continues to do so. She inspires me to a great extent and other than her I follow Stephen Curry a lot. I like his game and I learn a lot from his videos."

Amandeep has resumed her outdoor training and is regularly working hard to better her skills but she says the past few months have been tough.

"I have started my outdoor training now but the lockdown did affect me a lot. It was tough mentally and physically. I was starting to lose focus, there was no routine and no timetable. When someone has to say at home all day all these things happen. But my mom knows what is best for me, she made sure that I train at home. In fact, she joins me in training at home we do our drills and she takes care of my diet. She helped me a lot and therefore I was able to train at home."

The 20-year-old joked, "I also thought that if I didn't train at home then I would have to sweat more in the ground when all gets normal and I like things to be a little easy so I kept training at home."

Amandeep answering about her future plans said, "I am willing to train hard and want to be better at what I do. I know that to maintain my place in the team I have to keep working hard because if you won't perform people will forget you."

"I am looking forward to upcoming Asian Women Netball Championship 2020 which is to be held in Korea and 6th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Game and I want to win gold my for my country," signed off Amandeep.