Gurjit Kaur is a defender in the Indian female
field hockey team that made history by reaching the semifinals of the Tokyo
Olympics. She drag-flicked the only goal of the game as India beat three-time Olympic champions Australia in the quarter-final on Monday. 

“We are so happy, it is the result of hard work that we put in for several, several days. In 1980, we qualified for the Games but this time, we made the semifinals. It is a proud moment for us,” Gurjit said after the match.

“This team is like a family, we have supported each other and found support from the country as well. We are very happy.”

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Born on 25 October 1995 in Miadi Kalan village
in Amritsar, she belongs to a family of farmers. She did her schooling from
Ajnala and later from Taran Taran. It was there that she discovered her passion
for hockey. In 2011, Gurjit moved to Jalandhar’s Lyallpur Khalsa College for
Women to continue her education and her training – which is where she got
serious about drag-flicking.

Gurjit Kaur got her first shot at playing for
the country when she was called for the Senior National Camp in 2014. However,
she could not secure a place on the team. It was only in 2017 that she became a
permanent member of the Indian women’s hockey team. Gurjit Kaur then played in
the Test series in Canada in March 2017, the Hockey World League Round 2 in
April 2017 and the Hockey World League semifinals in July 2017.

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Gurjit’s moment of fame came in the 2017 Asia
Cup, in which the Indian team emerged as continental champions and consequently
qualified for a spot at the Hockey World Cup in London in 2018. Gurjit Kaur
ended the tournament as the third-highest goal scorer with eight goals, seven
of which were penalty corner conversions.