Vaishnavi Vitthal Phalke (born 23 December 2003) is an Indian field hockey player and member of Indian women hockey team. She plays for Hockey Maharashtra in the domestic hockey tournaments. She plays as a defender.
Early life
Vaishnavi hails from a farmers’ family in a small village Asu in Satara district, Maharashtra. Her father was also a wrestler. She learnt her basics at the Government Sports Academy in Pune. Her father who never won a tournament as wrestler, wanted her daughter to become a good player. He sent her to Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Balewadi, Pune in 2011. Vaishnavi tried different games before choosing hockey.
Hockey career
In 2017, she played her first big tournament taking part in the 7th Hockey India Sub-Junior Women's National Championship held in Ramanathapuram
In 2019, after a good performance at the 9th Hockey India Junior Women National Championship (A Division) at Kollam, Kerala, she was picked up for the Junior India camp. Then, she took part in the FIH Hockey Women's Junior World Cup 2021, Potchefstroom, South Africa where India finished fourth. She was called for the Senior India camp in September 2022. Later, she made her senior India debut in the South Africa tour in January 2023. She was named as the captain of the Junior India team for the under-23 5-Nations Tournament in Dublin, Ireland in July 2022.