“Play with an open heart and don’t be afraid to make mistakes. We learn from our mistakes so we shouldn’t be afraid of them.”
Indian women’s hockey team forward Vandana Kataria, the first Indian woman to score a hat-trick in Olympics, has this advice for the third-placed team in the recently concluded 2022 Asia Cup.
Born into a Dalit family with her father working as a master technician for Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) in Haridwar, the forward was awarded the Padma Shri this year.
Despite the challenging conditions, Vandana scored a hat-trick at the Olympics in a match against South Africa during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He also has the distinction of being part of the gold medal winning team at the 2017 Asia Cup as well as the silver medal winning team at the 2018 Asian Games, which is indeed a meteoric rise for the 29-year-old.
However, her successes did not come without failures. After losing to Argentina in the semi-finals of the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, she was subjected to several casteist abuses by upper-caste men in her hometown of Roshanabad. The men even blamed the defeat for having too many underdog players in the team.
Vandana has put it in the past, and shares her excitement on being awarded the Padma Shri.
She says, “I didn’t even know that I was going to get the award.” I went to the team dinner and I came to know that many messages were received on my phone.
She credits her achievements to the support of her team and the government and dedicates the Padma Shri especially to her father, who tragically passed away while training for the Olympics in 2020.
Vandana of the hockey team says, “We went to the Asia Cup thinking that we have to give our best.
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