K ARUMUGAM & SATISH SHARMA

She took up the challenge of pursuing hockey at the top level. It took courage and determination to meet the challenges that a woman faces while pursuing sport and she did her parents and country proud. Yet, sadly, Subhadra Pradhan is likely to believe she hasn’t done enough to change prejudice and archaic perceptions about women’s status in society.

On International Woman’s Day, let’s spare a thought for Subhadra, former international who lived up to the fine hockey tradition of her village in Odisha.

“My parents were elated when I got my first break. In 2003 when after winning the Afro-Asian gold medal I returned to my village. The entire Balisankra block erupted into joy and jubilation. Five players of our block — Dilip Tirkey, Prabodh Tirkey, Binita Toppo, Nilima Kujur and myself were part of winning teams and received a rousing welcome,” she flashes back.

For all that, Subhadra laments that attitudes have far from changed in her household. “My father is typical conservative man,” she says. “I wished to support him in building a bigger home at our village. But he refused to accept ‘his daughter’s money’ to construct a house. As a result, we still live in a modest dwelling in our village.”

Poignant, indeed. Especially when you go back in time and perceive her aspirations, her efforts and their fruition that bloomed in spectacular performances on the hockey pitch.

Like her most memorable match at the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. “We were down 0-2 against South Africa. I scored two goals and leveled the match. It took us to semifinals. Had we lost against South Africa we would have been knocked out.

“Then, I remember the other moment — at the 2006 Doha Asian Games. We were playing against South Korea and leading 1-0 in the bronze medal match. The Koreans dented our defence in the last minute and a player pushed the ball goalwards. I put all my energy in the dive and brought off a goal line save. It ensured us a medal!”

“I will never forget those two matches,” Subhadra, 35, recollects with pride and joy.

She is modest. There were instances aplenty when the careful watcher of the game would have noticed her steady, stellar and successful role in every match that she played in her decade long career.

Pivot Subhadra Pradhan was the Best Player of the Tournament, 1999 Asia Cup.                  Pic: K. Arumugam 

The most important one, according the writer duo of course, is when Subhadra stood like a Rock of Gibraltar in the semifinals of the 2009 Asia Cup. India was in dire need of winning the match to qualify for the 2010 Rosario World Cup. India was leading by a slender lead, a solitary one. Korean girls produced a series of penalty corners in the dying moments to force the match into tie-breaker but there was Subhadra to deny them by charging, clearing and twice making acrobatic saves. The Indian coach was adamant that day that only she should get the Player of the Tournament award, if it was to come for India.

But there have also been disappointments– part and parcel of sporting life — and Subhadra has had her share. She laments at not playing in the Olympics.“I participated in three qualifying tournaments but we couldn’t cross the hurdle,” the former midfielder says ruefully. “So after the 2012 qualifying tournament in New Delhi, I decided to call it a day.”

Hers was an illustrious career. Subhadra was a member of the team that clinched gold at the 2004 Asia Cup and the silver medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. She and Jasjeet Kaur broke new ground for Indian women players when she joined Dutch club HC Den Bosch in 2007.

Subhadra now works as Office Superintendent at Ranchi (South Eastern Railway). She is married to Pradeep Kumar Naik, an ex-employee of HAL, Bengaluru, in 2009, and the couple have two daughters aged six and four.

As bride

Subhadra hung up her stick in 2012 but has donned the role of coach, guiding the local men’s team at Ranchi . She looks back to her hockey career with a deep sense of gratitude to former coach MK Kaushik. “He always backed me, brought me to the senior team from the junior ranks and has always stood behind me. He played me for the entire match duration of 70 minutes,” Subhadra gushed in praise of her former mentor and coach.

She felt for “Kaushik Sir” when he was embroiled in a controversy. “It was a really sad moment. He never ever made any unwanted gesture towards any of the girls. I felt really sorry for him during that episode. “I will always remain thankful to him for the progress I made in my international career,” Subhadra says. “I am also grateful to Walia Sir, coach of the junior team,” she reveals.

Going further back during her days at Panposh Hostel, she recalls Bijay Lakra, A N Bihari, Milton Billung and KC Choudhary who shaped her hockey skills.

And Subhadra is upbeat on the women’s team of today. “It has improved. I am happy they are playing in the Olympics and that women players are earning more money. I often think that players of my era possess more medals but those of today earn more money than we did. And that’s because of the Odisha government’s policy of rewarding the players with an open hand,” she reasons.

And she cannot forget icon Dilip Tirkey’s role in the promotion of not just hockey, but crucially women’s hockey. “He hails from our village. In those days girls hardly took to hockey there. We began playing in earnest at the Hostel. But now, village girls are picking up the stick and have started playing in numbers,” Subhadra reveals.

Her cup of joy appears to be brimming when she notes that Odisha and Jharkhand are producing more women international players than men. And that’s a big plus that Subhadra, the brave heart in India colours in days gone by, will celebrate as women around the world rally today in hope, prayer and resolve.

All photos: K. Arumugam Collection