Rani Rampal (born 4 December 1994, born in Haryana) is an Indian

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...

player. At the age of 15, she was the youngest player in the national team which participated in the

2010 World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

. She has completed her schooling but was not able to get the graduate degree due to practice sessions and matches which were lined up. She plays forward on her team. She has played 212 international matches and scored 134 goals. She is currently the Captain for Indian Women's Hockey Team. She is also well known as a striker who often doubles up as mid-fielder. She has a great fascination with CWG. In 2020, the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

honoured her with the

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

Early life

Rani was born on 4 December 1994 in

Shahabad Markanda Shahabad Markanda is a sub division of Kurukshetra district within the Indian state of Haryana. It is situated on the left bank of the Markanda River, south of Ambala Cantonment and from the historical city of Kurukshetra. History The ...

in the

Kurukshetra district Kurukshetra district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana state in northern India. The town of Kurukshetra, a sacred place for the Hindus, is the administrative headquarters of this district. The district occupies an area of 1530.00 km² ...

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

. Her father works as a cart-puller. She was registered in the town's team by the age of 6. Initially her abilities were questioned but later on she demonstrated her potential to her coach. She took to field hockey in 2003 and trained at the Shahabad Hockey Academy under Baldev Singh, a recipient of

Dronacharya Award The Dronacharya Award, officially known as Dronacharya Award for Outstanding Coaches in Sports and Games, is sports coaching honour of the Republic of India. The award is named after Drona, often referred as "Dronacharya" or "Guru Drona", a ...

. She first came to Junior Nationals in Gwalior and at Chandigarh School Nationals and she was later admitted into national squad. She made her Senior year debut when she was only 14 years, which made her the youngest player in the Indian Women's Hockey team. As she started to play professionally,

GoSports Foundation The GoSports Foundation (GSF) is an independent, donor-funded non-profit venture, working towards securing funds and professional expertise for some of India's junior Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Established in 2008, it has worked with nume ...

, a sports non-governmental organization provided her with monetary and non-monetary support as her family found it hard to support her dreams financially. She was part of Indian Hockey Team when the team qualified for

2016 Rio Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

after 36 years. Under her Captaincy India reached in the semifinal in

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

first time in the history of India after inclusion of Women's hockey in olympics.

Career

Rani played in the Champion's Challenge Tournament held in

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...

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in June 2009 and powered India to a win by scoring 4 goals in the finals. She was adjudged "The Top Goal Scorer" and the "Young Player of the Tournament." She was instrumental in winning the silver medal for the Indian team in the

Asia Cup The Asian Cricket Council Asia Cup is a men's One Day International and Twenty20 International cricket tournament. It was established in 1983 when the Asian Cricket Council was founded as a measure to promote goodwill between Asian countries. ...

held in Nov 2009. After playing with India's national team at 2010 Commonwealth Games and 2010 Asian Games, Rani Rampal was nominated in FIH Women's All-Star Team of 2010. She was nominated for ' young woman player of the year' award. She was also included the All-Star team of the Asian Hockey Federation based on her performance in 2010 Asian Games at Guangzhou. At the 2010 Women’s Hockey World Cup held in

Rosario, Argentina Rosario () is the largest city in the central Argentine province of Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous city in the country, and is also the most po ...

, she scored a total of seven goals which placed

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in the ninth position in World Women's hockey rankings. This is India's best performance since 1978. She is the only Indian to be nominated for the FIH Women's Young Player of the Year Award, 2010. She was conferred the "Best Young Player of the Tournament" award at the Women's Hockey World Cup 2010, recognizing her stellar performance as the top field goal scorer in the tournament. She was awarded with the Arjuna award in 2016 which was like one of her dreams come true. She was also adjudged the 'Player of the Tournament' at the 2013 Junior World Cup which India finished with a bronze medal. She has been named for

FICCI The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) is a non-governmental trade association and advocacy group based in India. History Established in 1927, on the advice of Mahatma Gandhi by Indian businessman G.D. Birla an ...

Comeback of the Year Award 2014. In 2013 Junior World Cup she made India won its first ever bronze medal at the event. She was part of 2017 Women's Asian Cup, and they also won the title second time in 2017 at Kakamigahara in Japan, for the first time the trophy was brought in year 2004, due to this they got selected for world cup which was held in 2018. She led the Indian women's hockey team as captain in

2018 Asian Games The 2018 Asian Games ( id, Pesta Olahraga Asia 2018 or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, was a Asia, continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 A ...

, where they won a silver medal and was India's flag-bearer for the closing ceremony of the games. She worked as Assistant Coach with Sports Authority Of India.

Awards

Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna The Khel Ratna Award (), officially known as the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award ( Major Dhyan Chand Sport Jewel Award), is the highest sporting honour of India. It is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Governm ...

(2020) - Highest Sporting Honour of India. *

(2020) - fourth Highest Indian National Honour

References

External links

*
Rani Rampal
at

Hockey India Hockey India plans, directs and conducts all the activities for both men and women hockey in India. It is recognized by the Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Govt. of India as the sole body responsible towards promoting Hockey in India. It w ...