DRIVE AND GOAL: Ritu Rani

Dreams are made of determination, disappointments, and happiness. You have to persist through all of it to reach your goal. Ritu Rani, the first Indian woman’s hockey player to play abroad, exemplifies this perfectly.

Ritu Rani; Image Credits: Bizbehindsports

Born in Haryana on 29 December 1991, Ritu Rani, finished her schooling at Sri Guru Nanak Dev Sr. Higher Secondary School in Shahabad Markanda, Haryana. It was from the age of 9 that she started playing hockey and simultaneously would receive training at the Shahbad Hockey Academy in Shahabad Markanda. Until 2014, Rani worked with the Indian Railways, after which she joined the Haryana Police.

She made her debut at the Doha Asian Games in 2006. Following this, at the age of 14 she became the youngest member of the Indian squad to play in the world cup in Madrid in 2006. Rani finished at the top with eight goals to her name during the Champions Challenge II in Kazan, Russia. The championship was held in 2009 and India won the tournament. Consequently, in 2011 she was selected as the captain of the Indian team. Under the captaincy of Ritu Rani, the Indian Hockey team reached third place in both the 2013 Kuala Lumpur Asia Cup and the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.

When the 2014–15 Women's FIH Hockey World League held its second round in India in 2015, Ritu Rani led the team to victory and qualified for the next stage. Following this, the Indian hockey team finished, at an impressive 5th spot in the World League Semifinals at Antwerp. As a result, the Indian hockey team qualified for the summer Olympics of 2016,36 years after the 1980 Olympics. This remarkable feat was also achieved under Ritu Rani's captaincy.

On qualifying for the 2016 Summer Olympics Rani said:

"I've been dreaming of playing in Olympics for 10 years. It is an honour to be leading this group. Many of these girls won the (medal at) the junior world cup. Exposure against top teams has taught us what to expect in Rio. Even our seniors tried to make the cut, but fell at the final hurdle, losing to South Africa in 2012. But this team is special."

However, Rani's dream shattered like a delicate piece of glass when coach Neil Hawgood announced his 16-member team, to the exclusion of Rani. "I’d rather not talk about what happened then, because I want to forget about it myself,” she said later in an interview.

With no explanation from the management, reports suggested that 'it was due to charges of indiscipline and a loss in form’. It is alleged that Rani left camp and went on to get married to Harsh Sharma, the Punjabi singer.

On asking about this episode of her life, Rani remarked

"My seniors from the 2012 batch congratulated me. They said it (Olympic qualification) didn’t happen for them, but at least I would get to go. It was a dream. Wo cheez bahut paas aa gaya, aur phir duur chala gaya".

All her friends and family had earlier celebrated the women's hockey Olympic qualification, and her parents had hosted a party in her honour too. But “Maybe going to Rio just wasn’t in my destiny,” Rani later laments.

The India women's hockey team finished last in their group in the Olympic games and one month after their return, Rani at the age of 24 announced her international retirement.

However, both her husband a former player, and her mother in law who worked at the National Institute of Sport (NIS) in Patiala as a hockey coach urged Rani to resume her game and she did. She said “I realised that I loved playing. Uske bina mann bhi nahi lagta. Uske elava bhi kya hai?”

Simultaneously, she received a call from Cedric D’Souza, the Austrian hockey coach. She was offered a training program and also a few weeks' play at  SV Arminen, a Vienna-based club.

“I had barely retired, and I got this platform to play in. It was just for a few weeks, but in India, girls don’t really get many domestic tournaments anyway,” said Rani after receiving the offer.“There I realised I wanted to keep playing. I’m still young and have plenty of years left. I haven’t even reached my peak yet.” She soon would join her mother-in-law’s training sessions and practiced very hard.

Her fitness regimen, her diet, everything changed. She kept up with her routine and competed in the Surjeet Tournament in Jalandhar. Finally, she made her way to the Indian team again and was re-appointed as the captain.

An Arjuna award winner, Ritu Rani is the perfect example of how to overcome obstacles and bounce back stronger. We hope that she would take the Indian hockey team to new heights and etch a name for herself in the pages of history.