Our country has seen scores of brilliant and talented sportspersons who leave us in awe, like this 5-year-old girl who shot 111 arrows non-stop hanging upside down. But a lot of them have struggles of their own which don’t immediately come out into the forefront. For instance, Arjuna awardee and kho-kho player Sarika Kale revealed consuming only 1 meal per day for a decade. Another bright player has come forward with a problem that I’m sure most girls in our country would relate to.
As per a report in Hindustan Times, Khel Ratna and India’s hockey team captain Rani Rampal revealed how the question of marriage came her way 2 years ago when the Tokyo Olympics qualifiers were not far away. She recalled explaining patiently to her parents that she was not ready and that her priority was to see the Indian team qualify for the games.
She said, “I made my parents understand that my ultimate target is not marriage. What I can achieve now as a player, I can’t achieve it later. They understood.”
Having already had an illustrious career spanning over 11 years, she shared how she had witnessed many of her fellow teammates move away from the sport, even at the peak of their careers, to get married.
She continues, “Once you represent India or get a job, it’s believed that it’s time for the athlete to tie the knot. Relatives continuously tell your parents and pressure builds up. Parents start believing in these things. But things have changed a lot over the years and parents have now started to understand.”
Her father was a cart puller in Shahabad Markanda in Haryana and the family often struggled to make ends meet. But despite Rani’s background being struck with her family’s financial struggles, she feels fortunate that her parents nevertheless respected her life choices and hockey dreams. She says, “I have gone through all kinds of struggles be it related to the game, financial condition, family, injuries. It is my privilege that I represent the country in hockey.”
Sharing her recent experience of being the first female hockey player to be awarded India’s highest sporting honor—Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, she says, “It is a big honor for me but this is also a big recognition for women’s hockey. The Indian team has performed consistently well in the last few years but somewhere I also had the feeling that it’s very difficult to get the country’s highest sporting honor for a woman hockey player. This will encourage girls to play hockey and realize their dream of playing for the country.”
She discussed the contrasting times earlier where women hockey players playing for just 4 years was seen as a tall task. Her first year in the senior team was in 2008, right before the Russian Olympic qualifier. She expressed her emotions about a particular incident when her teammates broke down upon not being able to qualify for the Beijing Olympics.
She begins by saying, “I was very young, just 14. I did not know what the Olympics were. We had a good team. When we did not qualify, everyone was crying. I could not understand why. ‘We can win another tournament,’ I thought. But I never realized that the Olympics was so important and how difficult it will be for them to continue for another four years.”
Four years later after that incident, the Indian team, unfortunately, failed to make the cut yet again in the Olympic qualifiers.
Continuing, she said, “I remember we cried like hell sitting outside our hotel rooms till 4 in the morning. It seemed our life was over, careers finished. It was then I realized why my seniors were crying in 2008. I realized how difficult it is to push yourself for the next four years.”
This temporary setback proved to make Rani and her team even stronger, and they successfully made it to the 2016 Rio Games, and under her captaincy for Tokyo. She recalled, “We had lost a crucial match to the USA in the 2008 qualifier. The opponents were physically stronger and one of the senior players, Suman Bala, told me that I should become like them.”
And Rani took the advice seriously. She states, “My focus was always on the next goal and I have reminded myself that whatever I have achieved it is because of my hard work.”
Rani also candidly admitted how sometimes maintaining her physicality on the field can become tough. She says, “As years pass on, doubts start coming in. The recovery of the body gets slower. You ask yourself whether you will be able to push yourself or not. But now the team gets so much support—from sports science to rehab and recovery, you are being taken care of—so if you are mentally strong then that gives you the confidence that you can manage.”
Rani is truly an inspiration for sharing her story and emerging victorious despite all the ups and downs she faced in life. What do you think? Tell us!