Neha breaks barriers to make a mark
Ritu Sejwal, TNN
NEW DELHI: Neha Goyal, the shy 14-year-old girl who was declared the ‘player of the match’ after India’s 3-2 win over New Zealand in the U-21 four-nation Lal Bahadur Shastri women’s hockey tournament on Tuesday, was struggling to come to terms with the sudden media attention on Wednesday.
A resident of Sonepat, Neha comes from a family which struggles to take care of her basic requirements like shoes and hockey sticks, let alone the basic diet regime she is required to follow. Her father earns just Rs 1,500 to 2,000 per month while her mother and two elder sisters do sundry jobs in peoples’ homes to make ends meet. None of them have seen Neha play in a tournament.
Neha was introduced to hockey by a school friend. “One day my friend took me along for practice and it all began from there,” Neha told TOI on Wednesday, waiting to join her team after the post-match stretching session.
“My father works as a labour in a nearby factory,” Neha revealed after a lot of hesitation.
Neha began training in a hockey academy run by former India captain Pritam Siwach. “Neha did not even have money for a hockey stick. I used to get kit from senior players and distribute it to the girls. Like Neha, there are 70-80 girls in the academy who come from very poor families. We somehow manage by getting help from here and there,” Pritam told TOI.
The day for this young girl begins at five in the morning like any other athlete. The schedule after that is laid out perfectly – two-hour training, followed by school and then back to training after school. A student of Tika Ram Senior Secondary Girls School, Neha travels 15 km everyday from Sonepat to Rai to be able to train on a turf.
“Since there isn’t any training turf in our locality we girls have to go to Rai for training. We spend Rs 20 on rickshaw fares everyday. Not all of us are well-off,” she added. Neha was a member of the bronze-winning Indian team at the Junior Asia Cup in Bangkok two months ago.