Rani Rampal: Leader of India's Chak De girls ready to turn a new leaf now

The sight of Rani Rampal walking up to the podium at Hockey India’s felicitation in Delhi on Thursday – with Harmanpreet Singh and his men applauding – was really a heartwarming one. Yes, 29 years is no age to call it time on a glorious career but her tryst with injuries, alongwith with her disappointment at being dropped from the national squad last year had made her call a foregone conclusion.

The ‘what now’ question has been answered as well when Rani was appointed as the mentor and coach of Soorma Hockey Club of Punjab and Haryana in the upcoming franchise league of Hockey India later this year. She has already been roped in as the national coach for the sub-junior women’s team – roles that reminds one of the manner P.R. Sreejesh is now being used to groom talents for the future.

In hindsight, the woman of steel fell agonisingly short of what the men’s goalkeeping ace achieved with two back-to-back bronze medal finishes in Tokyo and Paris. Rani’s best moment came in Tokyo when after qualifying for the second time (after Rio) at a gap of nearly 40 years, her girls became the real-life Chak De girls but finished with a fourth place heartbreak.

What has been Rani’s biggest legacy in the sport? While those who care to follow women’s hockey will vouch for her astonishing strike rate of 205 goals from 254 international matches or winning the Asian Champions Trophy (2016) and the Asia Cup (2017) apart from the Tokyo campaign, but it was perhaps more about emboldening the young girls from underprivileged background and remote parts of the country to break free of any taboo and pick up the hockey stick.

 In women’s cricket, the duo of Mithali Raj, Jhulan Goswami and Harmanpreet Kaur are famously credited with raising the profile of the women’s game when they finished as runners-up in the 50-overs ICC Women’s World Cup in 2017 and strengthened Mithali’s calls for a separate women’s league. Rani perhaps did no less and said that while her dreams to star in a women’s HIL League as a player never materialised, being a mentor in one of the teams would give her an opportunity to stay connected with her passion.

If the likes of a Udita Duhan becomes the highest paid player in the women’s auction today with a price tag of Rs 32 lakh, their lot has to thank Rani, goalkeeper Savita Punia and their Class of Tokyo 2020 for believing in themselves and prompting the establishment to think about the potential of a separate league. The rags-to-riches story of Rani, Vandana Katariya and several other members of that squad proved that women’s hockey can indeed be a viable career option. 

The end to a 15-year long glorious career, which a skinny but spunky Rani started as a teenager, ended for all practical purposes in January last year – though not exactly the way she wanted. In the aftermath of Tokyo, injury forced her to sit out of the squad as she missed the World Cup where India finished ninth and the Commonwealth Games, where they won the bronze.

Even after she recovered from injuries, the then India coach Janneke Schopman didn't consider her good enough. She made her return to the national set-up for a four-match series against South Africa in January 2023, but they remained her last outing for the national team.

No fairytale ending

It almost looked like a sop when Rani, then 28, was handed a head coach’s role in the sub-junior women’s team. The fierce competitor that she is, Rani felt she still had enough hockey left in her when she said: ‘’Whatever happened with me wasn’t right in the last two years. I came back from an injury, was the top scorer at the National Games but wasn’t picked.’’

The dust seemed to have settled down now as Rani was honoured at the sidelines of the men’s India-Germany hockey Test series at the National Stadium. It may not have been a fairytale ending for her alright, but it’s time to begin a new chapter (or quarter, in hockey parlance).

 Thanks, Rani Rampal for giving us the Chak De girls!