“I would never get a proper diet and my shoes would often be torn,” laments Neha Goyal, her voice slowing down under the burden of memories from a rather sorrowful childhood.
But the 26-year-old, who’s a member of India’s Women’s Hockey team, doesn’t let her past cloud her present. “People said I am short, but I never lost hope,” she adds quickly.
Amid all of this, Neha was in the fifth grade when she was told by her friend that she would get free kits if she started playing hockey at a nearby ground.
From having a short height, to the lack of nutrition being provided at home, Neha scaled one hurdle after another and soon started playing at the national level.
Goyal’s coach, Pritam Siwach, still remembers the day she first saw a young girl peeping through the grills. “When she came inside, I asked her if she wants to play hockey and she said yes. She gave me a mixed response when I sent her to play with the younger lot,” she added.
When Siwach handed the young girl a skipping rope,…