Rani Rampal has been the face of Indian women’s hockey for well over a decade. Her stature and value to the Indian women’s hockey team duly brought her the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, adding to the Arjuna she won in 2016  and Padmashree earlier this year.

Of course, that face wasn’t viewable in the general sports media unless one were to be, not just a hockey aficionado, but a women’s hockey buff. After all, hockey if at all, gets scanty coverage and women’s hockey generally gets relegated to News In Brief.

Occasionally, however, Indian women’s hockey expands to a two column or three column story with a picture and a mention on Page 1. On those occasions, Rani has been an integral part of the team’s ground-breaking surge.

Be it Belarus or Belgium Rani invariably leaves her mark

Two of those instances concerned the women’s team’s qualifying for the 2016 and 2020 Olympics. The first brought India a place at the Games after 36 long years. And the first time that the women successfully went through the grind of qualification successfully.

At Moscow 1980, India entered the fray as invitees in a field hit by a US-led boycott that left only six nations – devoid of most leading lights — participating.

Rani’s terrific strike, high into the Japanese net in the HWL at Antwerp, Belgium, eked out a 1-0 win for India and a historic entry into the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The second, at Bhubaneswar in the Olympic Qualifier against the USA last year — another Rani special that travelled at lightning speed into the back of the net to book India a spot for the now postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

She, most often, has made it count. And in the case of the Bhubaneswar encounter against the Americans who came back sensationally in the second leg and threatened to deny India an Olympic spot.

Some more three-column coverage. In 2017, India won the Asia Cup in Kakamigahara, Japan, beating powerhouse China via the shootout in the final.

It was a stupendous achievement, given the stature of the Chinese. The decisive goal in sudden-death, needless to say perhaps, came through Rani!

In the pool match, the Indian lasses thrashed China 4-1 with Rani again getting onto the scoresheet. But more than mere statistics, the Shahabad girl, inspired by the ‘Chak De India’ girls who wrested 2002 Commonwealth Games gold at Manchester, represented India at just 14 and has since exerted a profound influence on the pitch.

A forward, who doubles up as midfielder, Rani has stick skills, speed, ball control, telepathic passing ability and an astute capability to read the game – facets she has displayed in 212 matches during which she has scored 134 times.

Under her leadership India made vast strides

A year earlier, the Rani-led team showed signs of things to come. They beat China 2-1 in the final of the 2016 Asian Champions Trophy in Singapore to wrest their first title.

A protégé of Dronacharya awardee Baldev Singh at the Shahabad Academy in Haryana, she has grappled with poverty and prejudice to shatter the stereotype in her town where an adverse gender balance – among the worst in the country — can be debilitating.

Her father, a cart-puller and mother fought local barbs that denounced girls playing in shorts and skirts and prophesised doomsday for the family in terms of social standing. 

Back to cold facts and figures: Rani was voted Player of the Tournament at the 2013 Junior World Cup in Moenchengladbach, Germany. The award recognized her role in India’s historic bronze medal finish in which India beat England in the tie-breaker where Rani was successful in both her attempts.

Think for a moment: This was a podium finish at a global major. It was huge in the context of Indian women’s hockey. No surprise, perhaps, if you followed the goings-on at the 2010 Women’s World Cup in Rosario, Argentina. There, Rani, just 16, emerged best young player. Repeat: It was the World Cup, the senior edition.

Rani’s goal that led India to Tokyo qualification                                                                     Photo: Shamim Qureshi

She’s also been included in an FIH World Stars XI in 2010. An Indian woman, included in the best of the world team. That’s symbolically awesome. And for good measure she was voted World Games Athlete of the Year earlier in 2020 in a poll involving sports fans all over the world.

The intangibles add to Rani’s value. The team revolves around her. When things were falling apart against the USA in Bhubaneswar, the team came back in the fourth quarter firing on all cylinders with Rani as the fulcrum. Off the pitch, she’s been responsible and articulate in her views, speaking her truth quietly and composedly and never failing to exude confidence and a sense of discipline.

She promptly dedicated the award to Corona Warriors and viewed the award as a boost to women’s hockey and the team’s chances of a podium finish in Tokyo next year.

Photos: K. Arumugam