Women's hockey stars Nisha Warsi and Neha Goyal: Childhood friends living the Olympic dream together

Jonathan Selvaraj


Neha Goyal (R) and Nisha Warsi (L) started their hockey journeys together as children, and now play for the Indian national team. Hockey India

Nisha Warsi, 26, didn't have high hopes on the day the Indian women's 16-player-hockey squad for the Tokyo Olympics was to be announced. Sitting in her room at the Sports Authority of India hostel room, she reasoned that having never represented the Indian team at a junior level or even at a major tournament, she'd be considered too inexperienced. When her teammate Neha Goyal came into the room with a big smile, Nisha expected it was because Neha had made the cut. After all, Neha is one of the key figures in the Indian midfield, having been part of the squad ever since the 2018 Asian Games where the Indian team had won a silver.