The Indian women's hockey team has made history by makingit to the semi-finals of the Tokyo Olympics. The team has achieved this featfor the first time in 41 years. These 16 players showed a perfect example tothis and upcoming generations and have scripted history by reaching thesemi-finals for the first time in the Olympics history.
Team India faced three-time champions and world no. 2women’s hockey Australia team and defeated them by 1-0 on Monday.
Here is the brief profile of magnificent 16:
RaniRampal (C) – Rani made her international debut at the age of 14.Last year in December she turned 26. She is the captain of the women’s hockeyteam. Rani belongs to a poor family her father used to run tonga and her motherworked at people’s homes as a house help. She started her career with a brokenstick and now she is a junior world cup bronze-medallist, two-time Asian Gamesmedallist and has been an integral part of the Indian team which has qualifiedfor the semi-finals of the Olympics for the first time ever.
Gurjit Kaur – Gurjit plays a dual role in the women’shockey team, she plays as a defender as well as a designated drag-flicker. Hergoals have pushed the country towards significant victories, during the latestmatch in the quarter-finals of the Olympics; the only goal was scored by Gurjit.
Gurjit, a 25-year-old, hails from a village in Amritsar,Punjab; she belongs to a farming family.
Her father Satnam Singh was very serious about thedaughter's education. Gurjit and his sister Pradeep took their early educationfrom a private school in the village and were later enrolled in a boardingschool located in Tarn Taran. Gurjeet's dream of hockey started from there.However, making Gurjeet a hockey player was not easy for his family. His fathersold his motorcycle to buy a hockey kit for his daughter.
Salima Tete – Salima plays as a mid-fielder. She hailsfrom the Simdega district, one of the worst Maoist affected districts inJharkhand. She was the team’s skipper during Youth Olympics 2018 and at thattime Indian women’s team won the silver medal. Tete started her practice withwooden sticks because of the lack of financial support.
Sister Anima worked as a maid in Bangalore to makeSalima's dream come true. When Salima went to play the hockey worldchampionship, she did not even have a trolley bag. But her hard work paid offand now she has got a government job.
Nikki Pardhan – Nikki Pardhan was added to the team inTokyo Games, she is a midfielder from Jharkhand's Khunti district. The27-year-old player has won more than 100 caps for India. Nikki’s mother used totake her for training.
Vandhana Katariya – Vandhana plays as forward. VandanaKataria scored a hat-trick in a pool match against South Africa and becameIndia’s first player to do so. She hails from Roshanabad, Haridwar. Nikki’sfather, Nahar Singh, always supported his daughter and ignored the societalpressure. Her father died three months ago and she wasn’t able to attend hislast rites because of her training.
Navjot Kaur – Navjot plays as a mid-fielder and she madeher debut in 2012 since then she is part of the team and has achieved severalvictories for India. Navjot studied at Kurukshetra University and trained forhockey at Baldev Singh's academy in Shahabad. In her first tournament at theUnder-19 level, she topped the list. She has represented India in more than 100international hockey matches.
Navjot Kaur belongs to Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh. Herfather is a mechanic by profession and her mother is a house maker.
Savita Punia – Goalkeeper Savita Poonia hails from theSirsa district of Haryana. Her grandfather Ranjit Singh wanted her to become ahockey player. Father Mahendra Singh Poonia said that Savita has made all of usproud, but her victory is dedicated to her late grandfather Ranjit Singh.Because it was his heartfelt desire that his granddaughter should serve thecountry by participating in sports.
Today she is the “Wall of India,” she has played morethan 200 international matches including Asian Games (2014 and 2018) as well asthe Asia Cup medal (2017).
Navneet Kaur – Team India's forward Navneet Kaur is fromShahabad town of Haryana. She expressed her desire to play hockey in the fifthgrade itself. Navneet Kaur has won the bronze medal in the Junior World Cup in2013, Gold Medal in Asian Cup in 2017, Silver in Asian Games in 2018, 4th placein Commonwealth Games in 2018 she had also qualified for the Senior World Cup in2018, the Olympics in 2019 and the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
She faced a setback in May when she suffered fromCoronavirus but now she has returned to the field with a bang!
Nisha Warsi – Nisha plays as a midfielder, she has playedher debut match in 2019 at FIH Women’s Series Finals in Hiroshima. Her familywas not financially strong but they always supported the dreams of theirdaughter.
Neha Goyal – Neha plays as a mid-fielder. Neha belongs toSonepat, Haryana. Her father did not have the means of earning. A friend ofhers suggested that playing hockey would provide good shoes and clothes. Shetook up a hockey stick since she was in the sixth grade. After winning thedistrict-level match, he got a reward of two thousand rupees, after this, Nehadid not look back.
Udita Duhan – Udita plays as defender. Udita belongs toSirsa, Haryana and she made her debut in 2017 during India’s tour to NewZealand. Udita grabbed the hockey stick to fulfill her father's dream, she wasearlier a handball player. When her handball coach did not come to school for afew days, she tried her hand at hockey and since then has been a part of thissport. In 2016, she also became the captain of the junior team.
Sharmila Devi – She plays as a defender. She has playedonly nine games for India. Due to the poor financial condition of the family,she was unable to pursue her hockey dream. But when she was in the fourthgrade, she met her coach Parveen Sihag, who helped her at every level and madeher an international level player.
Lalremsiami – She is one of the youngest players of herteam. She belongs to Mizoram and she is the first from her state to representIndia in the Olympic Games. “Siami,” as she is fondly called by her teammates,helped India secure a historic silver medal at the 2018 Youth Olympics.
In June 2019, when she was with the team, her fatherexpired. Despite this, she decided to stay with the team and took part in theFIH Women's Hockey Series.
Deep Grace Ekka – She plays as a defender and is a formergoalkeeper. She wanted to become a goalkeeper after she started playing at theage of 12. She was inspired by her elder brother Dinesh. Like her otherteammates, she has also started playing with wooden sticks. The 27-year-old isa two-time Asian Games medallist and an Asian Cup winner.
Monika Malik – Monika is a creative mid-fielder and ispopular as the backbone of the team. She belongs to the Sonepat district ofHaryana. Monika started playing hockey during the 8th grade. However, hisfather wanted her to become a wrestler but after seeing his daughter's interestin hockey, he motivated her for the game and now Monica is now the starmidfielder of the team.
Reena Khokar – Reena khokar plays as a forward. Shebelongs to Mohali. She got selected in team India in 2017. She has earned 45caps for team India. In 2019, due to an accident during a gym session, Reena'scareer was on the verge of ending. She suffered from an injury to her left eyeand was afraid of loss of vision. But, Reena made a strong comeback and nowwith her strong game, has brought India closer to the medal.