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Journalism of Courage
March 4: Five women hockey players from Mumbai were among the 30 probables selected for the four-nation hockey tournament to be held in Australia next month. The women, core of the Maharashtra women’s team that won the National Games title last fortnight, left today for a camp to be held at Patiala, after arriving from Imphal yesterday.
Speaking about the Imphal win, the second time Maharashtra had clinched the Games title, coach Satinder Walia said, “The girls played really well, and lost only one match, during the league phase, to hosts Manipur. That too because we had lent three players to Manipur before our team was finalised. If all of them had played for us, Maharashtra would have been pretty invincible.”
The win vindicated the tough stand taken by Bombay Hockey Women’s Association (BWHA), which had prayed, and was granted, a right to select the team ahead of the Women’s Hockey Association of Maharashtra. This was the first time the selection trial was held solely in Mumbai — the previous win for Maharashtra, in the second edition of the Games, was after two teams, one each from rivals WHAM and BWHA, landed in Kerala, forcing a compromise team at the last minute.
The probables from Mumbai are Helen Mary (CR, goalkeeper), Sylvinia Toppo, Laxmi Shree, Shina Kispotta and Paulina Surin (all WR). Helen Mary and LAxmi Shree were members of the silver medallist Bangkok Asian Games squad.
