Rani Rampal, the former captain of the Indian women’s hockey team, has revealed that her hamstring injury made her stronger and taught her a lot during the tough phase of her career. Rani led India to a historic fourth-place finish at the Tokyo Olympics and was awarded the prestigious Khel Ratna and Padma Shri awards in 2020.
Rani missed the FIH Women’s Hockey World Cup 2022 in Spain and the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where the Savita Punia-led side won bronze. She was also excluded from India’s squad for the FIH Nations Cup last year where they won gold. However, she made a comeback to the India squad during the FIH Women’s Hockey Pro League 2021-22, where she played just a single match against Belgium.
“Injury is part of the sport and I think I had faced a lot of injuries before. This injury was also a challenge for me and I started again after overcoming that and yes it was difficult for me and I think I had learned a lot of things and also made me strong,” Rani said.
Rani made her India senior team debut at the age of 14 in 2008 at the Olympic qualifiers, becoming India’s youngest ever hockey player to play at the top level. Since then, Rani rose in stature and became an integral part of the Indian women’s hockey team. She was a part of the Indian women’s hockey team at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Rani was the chief guest during the Special Olympics event in the city, where over 380 campers, including 177 special athletes from 23 states of India, are participating in 15 sports at the national coaching camp for the Special Olympics World Summer Games. This is the third preparatory camp for India’s participation at the Special Olympics World Summer Games being held in Berlin, Germany in June 2023.
Rani believes that sports have the power to bring people together and shatter down any existing barriers. “It is great to see the level of facilities that are being provided to the athletes at the national camp before the World Games as it will not only boost the confidence of our esteemed group of special athletes, but also motivate them to achieve their best results,” said Rani. She extended her best wishes to the Indian contingent at the Berlin Games 2023 and hopes to see them earn many laurels for the country.
