Indian women’s Hockey team made history at the Tokyo Olympics on Monday after they defeated World No. 3 and former gold medallists Australia, making into the semi-finals of the Olympic Games, for the first time ever. Among the eleven players who came from different parts of the country, the story of Lalremsiami Hmarzote from Kolasib, Mizoram, is that of resilience and inspiration.
Hmarzote was recently featured in one of the special Instagram posts by Humans of Bombay. The 21-year-old, who plays for the forward position, grew up in a humble family in Mizoram. Hmarzote revealed that her father was a farmer who earned Rs 250, while her mother is a housewife and took care of her seven siblings. Studying in a government school, Hmarzote said that she was 11 when she realized that the need to provide for her family. However, Hmarzote described her wish to play hockey as an ‘unrealistic’ dream.
Giving due credit to her mother, who was a football player, Hmarzote said that she was encouraged to take up sports, but the nearest hockey academy was 84 kilometers away.
Considering her family’s financial condition, Hmarzote was concerned about the money it would require to cover the cost to travel and receive the training. She soon discovered that the academy teaches kids free of cost and that helped Hmarzote in pursuing her dream.
With her continuous training and exceptional talent, Hmarzote made it to the national team and went on to represent the country at Senior Asian Cup, Asian games, and Youth Olympic games.
However, last year, Hmarzote lost her father a day before India’s match against Chile. Despite the huge personal loss, the hockey player decided to stay back as she told, “That’s what Papa would have wanted. I gave it my all and helped India win.” Hmarzote said that her sole aim was to make her father proud and her biggest regret in life is that she could not say goodbye to him.
But for Hmarzote, an even bigger regret will be to not make him proud. The athlete wishes to score the winning goal for the Indian Hockey team at Tokyo.
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