- Hockey India celebrates 100 years of sporting history in India
- Pritam Siwach, a former captain of the Indian women's hockey team, speaks about the development of the sport
With Hockey India celebrating a century of the game, former Indian women's team captain Pritam Siwach reflected on the inspirational story of women's hockey in India and identified the 1998 Asian Games silver medal as the game-changer.
"We knew that for all of us, the 1998 Asian Games would be our final major tournament, and we did not want to retire without having won a medal," Pritam recalled. "Having gone 13 years without a medal, we worked very hard on each aspect in the two years before the event." All that effort paid off, and the team's silver medal was the beginning of a new era for Indian women's hockey. "The trend has only been upward since then," she said.
Pritam added that the momentum from that achievement created more milestones, like a silver at the 1999 Asia Cup and a historic gold at the 2002 Commonwealth Games. She attributed Hockey India and the government for greatly changing the face of women's hockey post her playing years. "Today's players have much better facilities, grassroots development initiatives, sports science, a complete support staff, and access to psychologists—things we never had."
Proud to still be actively involved in the sport, Pritam declared, "I feel blessed that my kids play hockey too. Not many sportspersons get to mold the next generation themselves." At her academy, she has guided many players, including Olympians Neha and Nisha, as well as emerging stars like Jyoti, Sakshi Rana, and her own daughter, Kanika Siwach.
Going forward, Siwach was optimistic about the future of the Indian women's side, particularly their prospects in the Olympics. "If the men's side can win an Olympic medal, then so can our women's side. Our focus right now should be gold at the Asian Games and using that as a stepping stone to Olympic qualification. With the pool of grassroots talent and solid development in the state and SAI NCOE setups, I'm sure we can make it happen."
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