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Aditi Chauhan eyes Indian team comeback with Rush Soccer

The experienced goalkeeper represented English Club West Ham United Ladies FC during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons.

Aditi Chauhan wants to do well in the upcoming Indian Women’s League (IWL) in her bid to make a comeback in the Indian Senior Women’s team. The 25-year-old goalkeeper will represent Bandra-based India Rush Soccer Club in the seven-team league starting in Shillong from Monday.

India Rush Soccer is the 21st international partner of US based Rush Soccer. Rush Soccer India won the Western Indian Football Association’s women’s football league last year. Later, they qualified for the final leg of the IWL Qualifier, after coming through the qualifiers in Kolhapur, in which 13 teams participated. Top players like Aditi and Dalima Chhibber have joined them for the main round.

Besides India Rush Soccer, who will be playing in the tournament for the first time, defending champions Eastern Sporting Union, Gokulam Kerala FC, Indira Gandhi Academy SE, Kryphsa, Sethu FC, and Rising Students Club are the other participants. Rush Soccer will play its first game against Indira Gandhi Academy SE on March 28. Each team will play six matches in the league phase. The top four teams will play in the semi-finals on April 12 and the final is on April 14.

“I am excited to be part of second edition of IWL while representing India Rush Soccer Club. I wasn’t part of the first edition (last year) as I was injured. We just started training in the camp in Shillong from March 20 and are looking forward to the tournament,” Aditi said.

The experienced goalkeeper represented English Club West Ham United Ladies FC during the 2015-16 and 2016-17 seasons. During that time she completed her post graduation from Loughborough University in United Kingdom.

She had tasted success with Senior Indian Women’s National team when they won the 2012 South Asian Football Federation championship and South Asian Games, 2016 gold medal for the country. She was also part of Asian Games 2014 in South Korea.

Now playing a competitive tournament after a long injury layoff, she is hopeful of regaining her spot in the national women’s team for the Asian Games to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia this August. Aditi admits despite having achieved so much already the League will test her as she makes comeback to professional football.

“It will be another test for me. It is good opportunity for me to make comeback in the national side. Obviously, I want to make a comeback in the national side before the Asian Games but I will not rush into things and will take it step by step. Right now I am not focusing on that. I want to do well for the team and myself,” she added.

The talented footballer felt the Fifa Under 17 Boys World Cup held in India last year has generated interest and IWL is a good start but we need more regular tournaments.

“It helped to increase interest in football watching and following which is good news. It also helped in improving the standards of the game. We have to extend the momentum to women’s football. IWL is a good start. It is an opportunity for girls, who couldn’t play for their state to play for a club in the qualifiers and main round of this professional league. But we need more regular tournaments,” she said.

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