Hockey’s Dhoni? Susheela Chanu on the way to her second Olympics
- Susheela Chanu will be playing her second Olympics for India at Tokyo
- Chanu captained the Indian squad at Rio in 2016
- She thinks that the Rio experience can help the squad to better in Tokyo
On the way to her
second Olympics, 29-year-old Susheela Chanu’s name is not yet an everyday
headline. But the hierarchies of Indian sport and the politics behind them are
not among Chanu’s concerns.
Chanu’s story
closely parallels the story of another sporting superstar of India — former
Indian cricket captain MS Dhoni. Like MSD, Chanu too started as a ticket
checker for the railways.
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But cricket’s fame,
power and money allowed Dhoni to quit his job and be a full-time cricketer.
Chanu, on the other hand, has risen through the ranks and has become a senior
ticket collector with the Mumbai Central Railway.
Chanu rose to
international attention when she led the Indian junior hockey team to bronze medal win
at the Junior World Cup in 2013. Soon, she made her international debut in the
senior national field hockey squad.
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Chanu played a key
role in taking the Indian team to the semi-finals of the Women’s FIH World
League in 2014–15. Her performance was soon rewarded and in 2016, Chanu was
named the captain of Indian women’s hockey squad.
The Indian women’s
hockey team played the Olympics after a gap of 36 years at the Rio Games.
However, the team finished at the end of their pool.
But Chanu hasn’t
lost heart. She thinks that the team can learn from the Rio experience and
perform better at Tokyo.
Hockey India’s
16-member squad for the Tokyo Olympics strikes the perfect balance between
continuity from the Rio Olympics in 2016.
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There are eight
experienced players — Rani,
Savita, Deep Grace Ekka, Sushila Chanu Pukhrambam, Monika, Nikki Pradhan,
Navjot Kaur and Vandana Katariya.
The eight players
debuting in the Olympics are Gurjit Kaur, Udita, Nisha, Neha, Navneet Kaur,
Sharmila Devi, Lalremsiami and Salima Tete.
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