Access to infra proves a game-changer: How an astroturf and hostel changed lives of tribal girls in Simdega

An Express Investigation: For the last couple of months, 15 reporters gathered data about all of India’s Asian Games medallists in Hangzhou. The analysis provided a few clear-cut trends and some fascinating journeys of athletes that highlight those.

Out of 36 medal winners across the men’s team (gold) and women’s team (bronze), 20 athletes are from rural areas. While 13 out of 18 medallists come from the Haryana-Punjab region, the women’s team is a bit more spread out. Fifty per cent of the female hockey players come from families with income around Rs 50,000 or below and all of them had parents who have completed Class XII at best.

One of hockey’s standout features is access to infrastructure in rural areas. Sundergrah in Odisha and Simdega in Jharkhand are both examples of how remote locales have astroturf training facilities. While Sundergarh has been promised a turf in each block, given Odisha’s long-standing commitment towards improving hockey, Simdega got its solitary facility in 2015, which coincided with the likes of Salima Tete and Sangita Kumari’s rise.

Salima and Sangita, both hailing from tribal villages even farther inward from Simdega, both availed the use of the hockey training centre run by coach Pratima Barwa. The centre has a hostel and school adjacent and houses 25 girls at all times who train for hockey while completing their education. Salima’s father Sulakshan Tete and Sangita’s father Ranjith Manji both recall how they had very little get by when their daughters started playing hockey.

Sangita’s parents Ranjith and Lakmani, the path to her school and awards in her house.

Hockey was seen as a means to improve their daughters’ livelihood and a job once they finished school.

“Jab tak woh ek step aage badhte rahi, hum bhoolte gaye.” With every step she has taken forward, we keep forgetting the difficulties we faced in the past, said Ranjith. “Around 10 years back, we had very little with us. But as our daughter has gone forward in her career, our situation is much better now,” added Sulaksan.

Now both Sangita and Salima, along with players coming through from Odisha like Deep Grace Ekka and Amit Rohidas, have established themselves in the national set-up. Hockey was a source of empowerment and changed their lives.

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