A seemingly unending stretch of a one-way tar road, 25 km from Simdega district of Jharkhand, leads to a cluster of villages. Heavy vehicles are zooming past. A prominent cut on the main road connects to a cemented stretch. At some distance, there is a school, in Kurangagudi village. On the ground, young boys and girls from nearby villages, wearing orange and pink jerseys, are practising hockey. Some are wearing basic shoes; some are wearing slippers or floaters. It바카라s not a professional hockey turf, but it does not matter to them. The fact that they are able to play the sport that they are passionate about is more than enough.
Not very long ago, there was a time when some of the girls and boys could not afford to buy hockey sticks. They played with bamboo sticks instead. Dried custard apples used to be their hockey balls. Some of the girls from that batch are sporting Indian jerseys today. Deepika Soreng, Beauty Dungdung and Sangeeta Kumari, to name a few, are all products of this school and live in the villages close by.
Their success story shines in Jharkhand바카라s hockey chapter, but theirs is not the only one. At present, after Haryana, Jharkhand has the maximum number of players in the Indian team and all of them are tribal girls from impoverished backgrounds. Five of the six players are from Simdega district and four learnt hockey on the Kurangagudi ground.
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As one approaches Sember Toli village바카라two km from Kurangagudi village바카라a mud track leads to a newly constructed, cemented building. It stands out amid the 20-25 small and modest dwellings. Next to the building is a small, thatched-roof home. There is barely any distance between the two but it has taken more than a decade for the family to move from the kachcha home to the cemented one. Both homes are owned by Soreng, 22.
Soreng, who plays as a forward, was the top goal-scorer in the 2024 Hockey World Cup바카라her debut tournament in the senior category바카라and helped the team reach the finals. In the 2023 junior Asia Cup, she played an important role in securing the gold medal for the team by scoring six goals in seven matches. She aspires to represent India in the Olympics and score a hat-trick like her senior Vandana Kataria did in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
It took a while for Soreng to get used to the applause, awards and accolades. When she started playing, the family did not have money to buy a hockey stick. 바카라My elder brother made a hockey stick from bamboo. I started playing with that,바카라 remembers Soreng.
After every championship, national or international, she would return to her humble thatched-roof home until the family was in a position to build a pucca home. Just as how her mother, Firisca Soreng바카라who worked as a labourer for nine years so that her daughter could become a famous hockey player바카라had always wanted.
바카라Maa once said that she will never be able to own a house or live in a pucca house because it바카라s not in her destiny. I am trying very hard to fulfil her dream. After all, it바카라s thanks to her that I have reached this far,바카라 says Soreng.
Her father passed away when she was seven. Her mother migrated to Rourkela in Odisha to work as a labourer to raise her three children바카라Soreng and her two brothers. When Soreng started attending hockey camps and participating in tournaments, her mother바카라s struggle doubled. 바카라The flight tickets used to be very expensive. She used to take loans and put in more hours to repay the loans,바카라 says Soreng. She made her mother quit work as soon as she got a job with the railways. Soon after, they started building the house.
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Sangeeta Kumari, 24, who plays as a forward in the Indian team, also remembers playing with a bamboo stick and dried custard apple in the initial days. Her father, a small farmer, had to work as a labourer and sell vegetables because of frequent droughts to look after his five daughters and a son. He didn바카라t have money to buy a hockey stick so he made one with bamboo. 바카라I was eight years old and loved hockey. I didn바카라t have any shoes or slippers. Once, I was adjudged the best player and was gifted a hockey stick. There has been no looking back since then,바카라 says Sangeeta.
Before joining the Indian team, she played in the Junior World Cup. She made history by scoring a goal in her first international match when she made her debut in a Pro League match against Spain in 2022. The same year, she participated in the World Cup and Asian Games. She was instrumental in helping the team secure gold in the Jharkhand Women바카라s Association Champion Trophy 2023 and the Bihar Women바카라s Asian Champion Trophy 2024.
바카라I still remember the day when I was expelled from the school for not having a hockey stick. I came home and cried. There were many girls who could not afford a hockey stick. But the school at Kurangagudi has played a vital role in helping these girls and today some of them are playing at national and international level,바카라 says Sangeeta.
At present, after Haryana, Jharkhand has the maximum number of players in the Indian team and all of them are tribal girls from poor backgrounds.
The credit goes to Father Benedict Kujur, 53. He joined the school at Kurangagudi in 2003 as a primary school teacher. There was no concept of sports in the school then but he would see children play in the lanes and courtyards. He discussed it with other teachers and it was decided to include sports in the curriculum. He saw a natural inclination for hockey. He went to every child바카라s house, met their parents and told them to encourage their children to pick up the stick. 바카라I made a rule that children will not be allowed to enter school without their hockey sticks. I would send them home when they broke the rule. Gradually, they embraced the game and started playing it,바카라 says Kujur.
He was not a professional hockey player but he learnt the basics and techniques of the game by watching international tournaments. The school garden was transformed into a hockey ground and children would practise there in the morning and evening. To make them physically fit, he formed teams of 16 and would make them run on the hills close by.
Gradually, they started participating in school-level tournaments. By 2010, some of them were recognised by government officials and were selected for camps and national and international tournaments.
Many tribal girls, including Soreng, Sangeeta, Beauty Dungdung, Alpha Kerketta, Rajni Soreng, Alka Dungdung, Anjana Dungdung, Ropani Kumari, Neeru Kullu, Nirali Kujur and Pinky Ikka, have received initial hockey training from the school at Kurangagudi and have played at the international level. Over 50 tribal girls have played at the national level.
A record number of girls are receiving training presently. They now have several role models. While dribbling the hockey ball, Sonam Kerketta, Amisha Ekka, and Priyanka mention Beauty didi바카라s name. They aspire to be like her.
Dungdung, 22, played the junior hockey World Cup and joined the senior women바카라s hockey team in 2022. The journey from playing with a bamboo stick to securing the position of a midfielder in the Indian hockey team has been full of challenges. Her father used to work as a labourer in Goa. 바카라My family had to mortgage land for my training. When I was selected for the junior Indian camp in 2019, I could go to Bengaluru only after my coach gave me Rs 15,000. I have reached here after a lot of struggle but the journey has been worth the pain,바카라 she says.
In the past four decades, Jharkhand has emerged as a hub for women바카라s hockey. While Jaipal Singh Munda, who helped India get its first gold at the Amsterdam Olympics in 1928, hailed from Khunti district, Silbanus Dungdung from Simdega, who was a part of the Indian team that last won gold at the Moscow Olympics (1980), is still hailed as a hero. Sumrai Tete and Asunta Lakra, who were captains of the hockey team, hail from Simdega. Salima Tete, an Arjuna awardee and the present captain of the women바카라s hockey team, comes from a remote village in Simdega. Nikki Pradhan from Khunti, a member of the Indian hockey team, has represented India in the Olympics twice.
Shehnawaz Quraishi, who has written the book Jharkhand Main Mahila Hockey believes that there is incredible hockey talent in the tribal belt of Jharkhand, especially among girls. 바카라The talent was never recognised because there was no hockey association. Before, only men dominated the hockey scene in the state, but in 1980, when the Bihar Hockey Association was formed in undivided Bihar, the talent of tribal girls was recognised as well,바카라 he says.
Commenting on why Simdega is emerging as a hockey hub, Quraishi says: 바카라The craze for hockey among girls is high in Simdega because of poverty and lack of facilities. After these players started getting jobs in the railways and other government establishments, more and more girls felt encouraged to take up sports, especially hockey.바카라
(Translation by Kaveri Mishra)
Md Asghar Khan is senior correspondent from Jharkhand
This article is a part of Outlook's March 21, 2025 issue 'The Pilgrim's Progress', which explores the unprecedented upsurge in religious tourism in India. It appeared in print as 'The Chak De! Gang'.
