World Cup silver medallist Chloe Watkins underwent heart surgery earlier this year.
The Irish hockey star experienced palpitations at an Ireland training camp in South Africa January, and was told that she needed minor surgery to solve the issue before Ireland's eagerly-awaited Tokyo adventure.
Ireland were due to open their Olympics account against South Africa this week, but the Games have been put back a year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
"It wasn't a major thing, it wasn't anything too threatening or dangerous," said Watkins.
"But I had had the palpitations over the years very infrequently, and I happened to have a bad one when we were in South Africa on a training camp in January.
"When I came back the doctor just felt that with the potential conditions in Tokyo and everything else over the next few months, it was wise to get this procedure done to completely prevent it from happening again."
