New Delhi [India], Indian women's hockey team forward Deepika Soreng expressed her heartfelt gratitude to Hockey India for conferring the prestigious Hockey India Asunta Lakra Award for Upcoming Player of the Year during the Hockey India 6th Annual Awards 2023 last month. Deepika, who has become a mainstay in the Indian set-up, had a tremendous year in 2023 as she made her debut for the team in the Women's Junior Asia Cup. He helped the team win the gold medal by scoring 7 goals in 6 matches and emerged as the second highest goalscorer for the team in the tournament. Speaking on her win, Deepika said, "I am grateful to Hockey India for giving me this." This honor was a memorable moment for me and my family when my name was announced.Winning prize money and awards is a source of inspiration for me, and it gives me the courage and strength to continue performing even better. And made the country proud. Deepika also traveled with the Indian junior women's hockey team to the 2023 Nations Junior Women's Invitation Tournament (Dusseldorf) and last year traveled with the team to the 2023 FIH Junior Women's World Cup and is also a key player for the Indian team that won the inaugural FIH Sylve won a medal at the Women's Hockey5 World Cup Oman 2024, scoring 9 goals in the tournament, she was also named Young Player of the Tournament in Oman “I feel like we have made a lot of progress in the last year and credit to the support staff, Deepika said, “It is important to have confidence in your team and myself.” Feeling space to express yourself is equally important and living in such a wonderful environment has been a remarkable experience for me." Deepika was recently named in the 33-member national women's team. The core group is training at the SAI Center in Bengaluru till May 16. She was among the players who were named in the 33-member national women's squad after the selection trials held on April 6-7. April was selected from the 60-man evaluation team that reported to camp. "I've been working hard every day and paying attention to the coaches. Training with senior players has been a great experience for me, as I am learning a lot of things from them.I hope I get a chance to represent the India senior women's hockey team as we have many important tournaments this year, I will be ready to take advantage of the opportunity whenever I get it. Spending a lot of time with the seniors and playing with them will further help my development,” he signed off.