Let there be more Ranis

Indian players react after losing their women`s field hockey bronze medal match against Great Britain, at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in Tokyo. Pic/PTI

The agony and heartbreak will take a while to fade. The cheering by the social media brigade might vanish sooner. It's why the magnificent effort by India's women's hockey team at the just concluded Tokyo Olympiad must not be allowed to slip into oblivion and instead become the springboard for a medal-winning effort in the next Olympics. Reading about these gutsy girls' backstories has been giving me goosebumps. Their fairy tale might not have ended on a sweet note. But they must be hoping it is the beginning of a smoother run for them and their ilk.

The far tougher challenge for Indian sportswomen in general comes from beyond the arena. It's about breaking stereotypes and tweaking mindsets. I recall an episode from my college days, where as a quizzer, we had participated in an inter-collegiate competition that was themed on the Olympics. In the pre-Internet era, newspaper cut outs, Manorama yearbooks and back issues of Competition and Success Reviews were our reference material. We made it to the finals, much to the surprise of more fancied teams. I added the word ‘surprise' to my previous sentence because two of our three-member team were girls. The other nine competing teams had only boys. Organised by senior sports journalists of Mumbai, the winner was decided but there was a face-off for second spot between us and another college. "Which Dutch sportswoman, dubbed ‘The Flying Housewife' bagged four golds at the 1948 London Olympics?" was the tie-breaker question. I still recall the deadpan smile on the journalist's face as he revealed the question; he was sure we'd be stumped. He was wrong. I was right. "Fannie Blankers-Koen!" I shrieked, moments after my fellow quizzer pressed the buzzer. It was a memorable moment but I also got my first taste of preconceived notions and mind blocks. Sports - do women really get it? Quizzing - sorry, boy's club only. Bring both topics together, and it's indigestible.

‘Spectator ho?'

Years later, as a sports journalist, with hockey as my main beat, I experienced similar scenarios while on the job. It made me relate well to the toil and sweat that India's women hockey players at the time had to endure to make it to a team driven by passion and skill. On my first day of reportage as I walked into the stadium, even before I could ask an on-ground official to guide me to the press box; in a blink, he told me, "Spectator ho? Right side se entry le lo." I half-smiled as I told him that I was a journalist. His jaw dropped. With less than a handful of us women's sports journalists at the time, our opinion and understanding of the game was taken lightly more often than not. But each time I chatted with a woman player for a post-match quote or a detailed interview, I experienced their warmth and somehow, I would get that ‘extra something' in my copy which made me do a little jig. Shy, unassuming and resilient, they never made their unfavourable position affect their love for hockey. I respected these girls from small villages and towns who did odd jobs, trained with tree branches and travelled for miles to make the cut into their respective club or state teams. During one junior championship, we journalists had learnt of pathetic living conditions faced by these players who had to fill water from a common tap and had awful rooms to bunk in. It was only after a collective effort where the authorities were exposed in the press that things improved for those girls. Real-life stories like these were aplenty, and would emerge during every woman's tournament I covered during my stint. It became a set pattern of empty stands, zero sponsorships and no TV presence. "Yeh toh ekdum slow, draw-waala match hoga," I'd often hear taunts like these from spectators. It made me sad and angry at the same time as I wondered when the tide would turn for the better for these girls.

Mumbai, the nursery for hockey

Which is why this sensational performance at the Tokyo Olympics, while it's worth savouring, must translate into a sturdy launchpad for greater goals. With funding and sponsorships coming in, the momentum should not be lost. Even in a big metropolis like Mumbai, this newspaper has reported about the lack of basic facilities like changing rooms and clean toilets at sporting competitions involving schoolgirls. How then, will parents and guardians feel secure to allow their children to choose sport?

This brings me to Mumbai's women hockey players, and the need to nurse new talent. This city was once a powerhouse that boasted of stalwarts like Eliza Nelson, Selma D'Silva, Fiona Albuquerque, Margaret Toscano, Angela D'Souza and Donita D'Mello, to name a few. Wouldn't it be fantastic if the city's big corporate houses focus on reigniting this passion at the school level so young girls can pick up the sport and get the best possible facilities?

With the men's hockey team bronze medal win, and the women's team coming fourth, the need of the hour is for a two-pronged, financially and practically sound blueprint that fuels a new generation both at the national as well as the city level so Mumbai can rightfully reclaim its tag as a nursery for hockey.

mid-day's Features Editor Fiona Fernandez relishes the city's sights, sounds, smells and stones...wherever the ink and the inclination takes her. She tweets @bombayana

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