With Love From Tokyo

The heart-warming performance of the Indian women’s and men’s hockey teams in the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympics has suddenly made the country sit up and take note of the sport. Promos on television inviting people to “become the players’ fans” are a dime a dozen.

Now, compare this with the sobering fact that, in the last two years, a leading Jalandhar-based sports equipment manufacturer did not sell a single hockey stick! There was simply no demand. While the pandemic was a major factor, the manufacturer mentioned a steadily dwindling demand in the previous years.

There is no doubt that hockey has been losing ground in the very state that has given the game some of its greatest icons. Fans have turned their backs on the sport and there have been fewer and fewer young people wanting to look at this artistic sport as a possible career option.

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Men’s hockey can at least boast the days when it was talked about, but women’s hockey does not have that consolation either; more often than not news about it has occupied an insignificant corner of newspapers or the public imagination.

All that might change now thanks to a group of determined Indian women who scripted history by defeating the mighty Australian Hockeyroos to enter the hockey semi-finals on August 2. These women must have been out of their minds to take up a game that is hardly noticed or written about in a cricket-obsessed country.

What is amazing is their love for a game that is injury-prone and tests their resilience and fitness – for most part they are required to bend to tackle or move their way up. The pressure on the back can be excruciatingly painful. But most of these players, whose skills have been forged in the fire of personal hardships, are considered among the fittest in the game.

The journey of Indian women’s hockey: a dim public memory

What motivated these women to take up hockey? No one from the current team was even born in 1982 when India won the Asian women’s hockey gold at the Shivaji Stadium in New Delhi and there is scant public memory of the journey of Indian women’s hockey. It was an unforgettable day for Indian fans as a jam-packed stadium watched the team tame South Korea in the final.

Women’s hockey made its debut in the Asian Games that very year and there was a reason for that inclusion.  At the 1980 Moscow Olympics, host India had finished fourth and players like Eliza Nelson, Razia Zaidi, Selma D’Silva, S. Omana Kumari, Fiona Alberqueque, Rajbir Kaur, Varsha Soni and Anurita Saini were prominent in the hockey fraternity. The prospect of a medal was alluring.

Notwithstanding those achievements, women’s hockey has remained in the background as far as lasting public recognition is concerned. Many of the brave women who have defied intense family and societal pressures to play hockey, have been propelled more by their desire to find a way out of their fettered existence.

The women’s contingent in Tokyo is an equal mix of veterans and first-timers at the Olympics. Among the veterans are Rani, Savita, Deep Grace Ekka, Sushila Chanu, Monika, Nikki Pradhan, Navjot Kaur and Vandana Katariya. The first-timers are Gurjit Kaur, Udita, Lalremsiami, Nisha, Neha, Navneet Kaur, Sharmila Devi and Salima Tete. Most of them hail from largely rural backgrounds and small-town India – from states like Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Manipur and Mizoram.

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Very few glimpsed the confidence this team has gained. The send-off for the girls on July 17 gave no hint of what lay ahead. Now the nation can’t have enough of Rani Rampal and her team and for good reason — eliminating the formidable Australian Hockeyroos from the medal race was an incredible feat, a hockey narrative not seen in Indian sport very often. And therein lies a tale.

For nine years this group has bonded and grown at various camps, tournaments and tours, silently being there for one another. In the run-up to the Tokyo Olympics, Rani had posted a message on social media, “Looking forward to memorable games” – a message that did not create any waves – and she kept her promise, inspiring the team to break barriers and set new benchmarks.

“I don’t know what to say because emotions are too high at the moment, and we all are very happy because it was not an easy game to win from Australia,” she said after the quarterfinal match. “But I’m super proud of my team. Each (player) really worked hard throughout the game. And we just said one thing to each other, ‘Just believe in ourselves, we can do this well.’”

Some stirring moments from the Tokyo hockey pitch shall remain etched in one’s mind. The rock-like goalkeeping by Savita Punia and the sensational goal by Gurjit Kaur against Australia. Not to forget the image of Sharmila Devi sprinting all over the field, attacking, defending, winning the ball and relaying it to a colleague to boost the momentum. I shall never forget Sharmila keeping pace with a much-stronger and swifter German, hustling her in a match that the team lost 0-2, but there was enough in the performance to suggest that India was on course.

From home to the hockey field: stories of rare grit

To play hockey, some of these players have had to face constant humiliation from people they would normally look up to for support. In some cases, they were looked down upon just because they were required to wear shorts or skirts. The ignominy of facing such daily insults at home acted as a trigger, because the goal was to move away from such difficult circumstances so that they could think of bettering their prospects.

Rani, whose father was a cart-puller,  wanted a comfortable  life for her family. Savita Punia was one of the lucky ones – encouraged by her grandfather to step out of the kitchen and win laurels.

For Salima Tete, Deep Grace Ekka and Nikki, who come from Maoist- affected areas, the challenges were of a different kind. It was the  support of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Hockey India (HI) that enabled them to explore their hidden talent and achieve their dream.

Fighting poverty and a difficult life has been the prime motivation for many of these hockey players (in some cases, something as little as getting shoes free of cost was motivation enough).

Neha resisted the bitter tirades of an alcoholic father by drawing strength from her mother, a daily wage earner who made spokes for cycles at a factory. The money was used to provide her the best of diet and support possible. Similarly, Lalremsiami’s father, a carpenter, earned Rs 200 a day, setting aside a part of it for the hockey star in the making.

It was not easy at any stage. Training infrastructure posed a big challenge, but the young women had their home-grown solutions, such as using bricks as a substitute for gym work and making their own goal posts. This was how they accomplished their goal of finding a place in the team that is now being feted across India. For these determined, and in many cases sole breadwinners of their families, hockey has been their biggest priority.

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Moreover, the challenges have been never-ending. The pandemic dealt a crushing blow to the preparation of the hockey team, which was mostly restricted to training camps at the SAI Centre in Bangalore. All they had during 2020 was a tour of New Zealand (prior to the pandemic) before they travelled to Argentina in January 2021, their first tour post-COVID-19 restrictions.  It did not prove to be an ideal preparation as the hosts gave India average teams to play against. The subsequent tour to Germany, too, did not add much to the team’s sense of preparedness.

The coach who transformed the team

What has truly benefited the players enormously is the fact that at one point the players spent close to 300 days in a year at training camps, thereby gaining the most from the appointment of Sjoerd Marijne as coach and former Holland player Janneke Schopman as analytical expert. The two have brought about a remarkable transformation in the team.

Marijne has taught the players to express themselves. They were initially shy of responding to him when he sought feedback on his training methods, confining themselves to uttering “fine sir, thanks sir”, but gradually they opened up. Having grown in a male-dominated sport, the experience of working with Marjine has been the best thing for their hockey careers.

HI too has taken steps to make the players understand the importance of communicating with fans and the media, encouraging them to share their stories, especially the tough challenges that confronted them because of lack of funds and support at home and outside.

The transformation in the Indian women’s hockey team is there for all to see. The players no longer stay cooped up in their hotel rooms when travelling overseas. They are encouraged to explore the city they are playing in so that it adds to their confidence.

On the field, some players who would not show any aggression on the pitch, were taught how to celebrate a goal or give the opponent a stare as part of pressure-building tactics. A player like Lalremsiami faced severe communication challenges initially, but the team worked to teach her one word a day. She now gives interviews in Hindi!

Importantly, this team is different with regard to the observance of hierarchy within. Time was when the younger players would be bullied by their seniors.  “They would make us carry their bags and go by what they say,” a player had recounted privately to this writer. In this squad, Rani, as the affable leader, has ensured that no member experiences discomfort.

Breathing life back into hockey

The team’s maturity is visible in the manner in which the players have exercised strict self-control in staying off social media while in Tokyo, to concentrate on their matches, and they have proved that they mean business. Five years ago, the Indian women’s national hockey team finished winless at the Rio Olympics. Later in the day today (August 4, 2021), this freshly minted team will play its semi-final match against Argentina in Tokyo.

A medal at Tokyo would be wonderful, but the genuine hockey lover will be able to appreciate the tremendous distance travelled by the hockey players regardless. The grit with which they have overcome crippling financial hardships that have haunted hockey aspirants from India’s hinterland and small towns, to add a new sparkle to the game, is  remarkable. It has always been tough for them to make their mark and earn sponsors because women’s hockey has not been taken seriously by Indian fans who have largely associated the game with men.

Who knows, the resurgence in women’s – and men’s – hockey might create a new generation of fans, giving rise to the kind of demand that would make the leading Jalandhar-based sports equipment manufacturer smile once again!

For now, the big news is as follows: with players like Rani and Manpreet Singh giving ample reason for hockey lovers to repose faith in their abilities, Indian hockey has truly come alive.

Vijay Lokapally has been a sports journalist for over four decades. At present he is a consultant with Sportstar magazine.