How girls from garib Bharat play hockey…

BANGALORE: It was at the national women’s hockey camp in Bhopal a few days back that goalkeeper E Rajini’s plight came to be known.

A newspaper report highlighting her father’s kidney ailment had them rally round Rajini and raise Rs 20,000 for his surgery. A carpenter with an income of around Rs 3,000-5,000 a month, Rajini’s father couldn’t meet the costs of treatment and surgery. Neither could her distraught mother or her three siblings. Rajini, a commerce degree student, broke down before her teammates.

“She had been informed about the ailment only a month back. Her family had hidden it from her for months. She desperately needed money for surgery but no one, including relatives, helped her,” a player told TOI. “We immediately collected Rs 20,000 for his treatment. That set us thinking: Why are we still playing hockey if it doesn’t reward us for bringing glory to the nation? That’s how the protest began.”

Rajini’s hardship also gave the senior players the idea of opening a joint account in a Bhopal bank. A steady trickle since last week has seen the balance rise to Rs 3,09,000, including the Rs 2 lakh which the girls received from Yash Raj Films, producers of Chak de India.

Rajini is just one example of girls from the lowest strata of society dreaming of making it big in hockey. They effectively combine their academic and sporting careers hoping they’ll land themselves a berth in the national team and… a job.