‘We play only for our passion’, say Kazakhstan Women players

There is little presence of Hockey in Kazakhstan; In fact, the temperatures are sub-zero, there is no synthetic turf, the players of the Women’s Hockey team find it a bliss to be here in Delhi for the ongoing Hero Hockey World League Round 2.

“I have been here a number of times before and the climate here is wonderful. The people are also nice,” says a much experienced 35-year old Gulnara Imangaliyeva whose first visit to India was back in ’96 when she represented the Kazakhstan National team in the Indira Gandhi Gold Cup ‘96.
Gulnara hails from a family of sports professionals and was initiated to Hockey at the age of 13, very much like her much younger compatriot Alissa Chepkassova, a 22-year player of the team, who picked up the Hockey stick at the age of 11.

Most of the Kazakh players come from the city of Taldykorgan, where most of their sporting activity takes place.

However, the 33rd-ranked Kazakhstan hasn’t had a great outing in this tournament so far due to a number of reasons.

“The climate here is much different from the one back home. Moreover, we have practiced in indoor environment and this is the first tournament of the season in outdoor. The game here is very difficult on the technique and tactic fronts. We will attempt to score more goals in the upcoming games,” says the Kazakh coach Serik Kalimbayev, who represented the Soviet Union Men’s National team in the 80’s.

Beating Russia is something special for these ladies. “Oh yes, we would definitely like to beat them. If not that, we want to score a few goals against them,” says the Imangaliyeva, who was also the highest scorer in the Round 1 of the same tournament hosted in Kuantan, Malaysia, in Sept ’12.
Then why do these women play Hockey when their nation focuses on many other popular games like Ice Hockey, Football and Volleyball?

“We just love the game Hockey. Without a doubt, we will encourage our next generation to take up Hockey,” say the two passionate women players.