Ranchi: Indian women’s hockey team player Vandana Kataria became the first Indian woman to play 300 international matches when she played against Japan on Tuesday evening during the ongoing Women’s Asian Hockey Championship in Ranchi.
Thousands of spectators present at Ranchi’s Jaipal Singh Hockey Stadium welcomed him for this record, but on the way to reach this milestone, he faced immense poverty, ran barefoot, struggled to even get a pair of shoes, and what’s more, he was subjected to harsh treatment from conservative casteists. Tolerated the insult of the society also.
Vandana tells IANS that coming from a Dalit family, she would never have been able to reach here if my father, family and friends had not supported her. When she was honored for this record in the stadium in the presence of Hockey India General Secretary Bholanath Singh and Jharkhand Ministers Badal Patralekh, Banna Gupta and former Jharkhand CM Babulal Marandi, she became emotional.
She said that she had never dreamed that she would play 300 international matches. The land of Ranchi has become memorable for me. I fill with pride again and again wearing the team’s jersey. Our team made my 300th match more memorable when we defeated the previous champion team Japan in a thrilling match.
When Vandana, a resident of Haridwar, UP, started playing hockey, it was a big dream for her to get a hockey stick for herself. His family did not have enough money to buy him a jersey or shoes. His neighbors and some people at home did not want him to leave the house to play. His grandmother also wanted him to do sweeping and utensils at home, but his father Nahar Singh Kataria, a wrestler, boosted his courage and encouraged him to persevere on the playground.
It should be noted that even when the Indian women’s hockey team had lost against Argentina in the Tokyo Olympics, some people had created a ruckus in front of Vandana’s house. It is alleged that casteist comments were made against his family and firecrackers were also burst in front of the house.
Vandana is also the first Indian female hockey player to score a hat-trick in the Olympic Games. He has also been honored with the prestigious Padmashree award in 2022. Vandana was a member of the Indian team that won the Asian Champions Trophy in 2016 and the Women’s Asia Cup in 2017.
–IANS
