Everyone at SAI Hockey Centre in Thenzawl, Mizoram, will be glued to their screens when India face off against the Netherlands in the semifinals of Junior Hockey World Cup in Potchefstroom, South Africa, on Sunday.
After all, it’s not every day that three from the same academy take the field together in the semifinals of one of the biggest competitions that the game has to offer. Lalremsiami, Lalrindiki and Marina Lalramnghaki – the three players from Mizoram who are part of the junior women’s team – have all trained at SAI Hockey Centre, Thenzawl.
However, such a day wouldn’t have come had it not been for the passion and dedication of coach Lalrampari, better known as Miss Pari. She is considered to be one of the main persons because of whom hockey became a popular sport in Mizoram in the first place.
So much is her love for the game that Miss Pari said ‘my husband is hockey’ during an interaction with TOI on Saturday. She began coaching way back in 1982 and retired only in 2020. She also coached the India junior women’s team.
“It was in 2010 that I started training the three. At first, we used to train on normal ground. Then from November 2015 onwards we started to train on synthetic turf at Thenzawl,” said Miss Pari over the phone.
But it wasn’t easy at first. In a state where football is everyone’s first love, Miss Pari had to fight tooth and nail to get the kids to play the sport. And all her hard work paid off when Lalremsiami became the first woman from the state to play at the Olympics.
Her good work is now carried forward by coach Lalrothuami, who has been coaching at the academy since 2011. Popularly known as Miss B’tei, she is immensely proud to see her wards together play the women’s junior World Cup.
“We have been watching all the games and we are really proud of the way they have played so far. Everytime they score a goal, there’s a roar inside the academy,” said Miss B’tei, who resides at the academy where as many as 40 players are currently training.
While Lalremisiami has already proved herself in the biggest stage of all, the Olympics, Lalrindiki’s goal-scoring ability has made her coach happy indeed. So far, the young striker has scored three goals in four matches. She scored twice against Wales and once against South Korea in the quarterfinals.
“When she was young, she used to be very fast. She used to win medals even in athletics meets. Now she has become even faster, and her skills have also improved,” said Miss B’tei.
As far as Marina is concerned, it’s her hard work that has really impressed Miss B’tei and she hopes to see them go a step further in the event, something that has never happened before.
India’s best show at the junior World Cup has been a third-place finish in 2013 and it will need a miracle for the Indians to go past the Dutch. But with the team riding high on momentum after four wins in four matches, nothing seems to be impossible.
