AHMEDABAD: Labyrinthine lanes, untarred roads and heaps of garbage strewn here and there greet you when one visits Bhilvas, a chawl in Sardarnagar, located in the northern part of Ahmedabad.
The locality is inhabited by families from less privileged backgrounds, with bread-earners doing either petty jobs at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport on contractual basis or involved in other daily wage work. The children study in the nearby municipal school run by Nagar Prathmik Shikshan Samiti of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and play hockey on the muddy ground of the school.
For Anupriya Koiree, who studied in this school till Class IX, none of these proved an obstacle to fulfil her dream to wield the hockey stick and don India colours one day. Inclusion in the Gujarat team for the junior nationals, currently being held in Jharkhand’s Simdega, has helped her take that initial step to achieve her goal.
Adding gloss to her achievement is the fact that she started playing the sport only in 2017.
“I started playing hockey in 2017. Before that, I only knew that it was our national sport. I learnt the basics of the game – how to defend, attack and other skills of the sport – only after 2017,” the 17-year-old told TOI.
