RANI

General
EARLY DAYS
She comes from Shahabad, Haryana, where her father worked as a cart-puller, transporting goods by hand. When she was growing up she had to decide on following her passion for hockey or taking responsibility for her family. She chose to do both, although it was not a universally popular decision. "In my neighbourhood, people asked my parents to not let me wear shorts and play hockey. They felt I might bring a bad name to the family." She asked her parents for one chance to prove herself, and they managed to enrol her at the Shahabad Hockey Academy. When she first entered the academy at age seven, coach Baldev Singh rejected her, saying she was too frail, but she did not give up and returned the following day. The coach ignored the academy's rule not to admit any girl under the age of eight and allowed her to train. "She was so gifted that I had to relax the rule for her, and I am glad I did," Singh said. She eventually made her senior debut for India at age 14 and went on to become part of the team that won bronze at the 2013 Junior World Cup in Monchengladbach, Germany. (sportskeeda.com, 16 Apr 2015; indianexpress.com, 19 Jul 2015; fih.ch, 06 Nov 2015)