By: Rahul Mukherji
A friend and a very respected senior journalist G. Rajaraman introduced me to Rani Rampal, captain of the Indian (women’s) hockey team at the breakfast table during Trailblazers, a sports conclave organized by RevSportz in Kolkata last Sunday. After getting introduced to Rani I could not help thanking her for providing my ‘Wow Moments’ in sports during the India – Argentina semi-final in women’s field hockey competition at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The defining moment came when my whole family sat down in front of the television set to cheer for our women’s team. Apart from cricket or maybe FIFA World Cup, I always watched sports alone. There we were all sitting together and watching women’s field hockey which included my mother and my wife who had little idea about hockey. It looked like especially for the two women it was not just a match, their focus told me they had much more stake in it.
After we conceded the second goal and were 1 – 2 down, my mom was calm but looked tensed. On the other my wife started instructing our women’s team like a coach, mind you she had very little idea of the game, in fact, she was watching her first field hockey match. Honestly, that day going by her body language if she could have communicated to girls over the television set it would have been motivating enough to go beyond.
Unfortunately, we lost to a much higher-ranked team in a very close encounter after a brave fight. I saw a sense of pride and disappointment in the eyes of the two women that day. Astonishingly, I saw the same emotions in Rani’s eyes when I told her this story sitting across the table. I am sure that day in many households in India thousands of women young and old, felt the same.
Three days later my whole family watched Neeraj Chopra win the gold medal for India in the men’s javelin event. Had he not won a medal, then a disappointment surely would have been there but different from the hockey loss for the two women at my home, which was more of a personal loss.
So, thank you Rani and the entire Indian team for making me sense a victory in defeat. Sometimes fourth-place finishes are inspirational but here it was revolutionary. You inspired a lot of women from all walks of life and across all ages in uplifting their self-belief!
This is a perfect sports story to celebrate WOMEN in India and all over the world … HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY!