Housewives regroup, power on to lift women's hockey title

New Delhi: A group of Delhi University (DU) alumni, now busy in various walks of life including making their homes, got together to form a team that won the 5th Baba Deep Singh Memorial Hockey tournament at the Khalsa College grounds on March 24.

These women had played hockey in their college days but post graduation, they had to give it up.

Thanks to the efforts of Inderpreet Kaur, a former DU hockey player who serves as the Head of Physical Education at Khalsa College, they returned to the field to practice hockey. The effort culminated with a comprehensive title win where they defeated Vivekanand College, Delhi University by a 6-0 margin in the final.

What these girls also seek to do is rub off their experience on to college girls they are playing against.

"We call it a joint effort, not a campaign in which we follow Inder(preet)'s lead. We all are professionals, playing tournaments by managing our time. This will also help promote hockey and help the budding players [against whom we play] improve. Most of the ladies are housewives. There are others who work. They all have revived their love for hockey. They take time off from work and daily chores and practice for one or two hours. Seeing us play, others get encouraged and many are joining us," said Zehra, a member of the DU Alumni team.

"Somehow we manage to field 11 players."

In the final, the DU Alumni team defeated Vivekanand College 6-0.

The victorious DU Alumni team (left) and the runners-up Vivekanand College team

Inderpreet, the force behind this team, says, "Somehow they all manage to gather by applying leave. They are managing it for the past six years. Whenever I call them, they are here. We are managing to finish on the podium for the past few years and giving the current lot of college players a tough fight. One of the motives was to gather all the alumni and play together."

This initiative, which began in 2018, comes at the right time. Hockey India is conducting nationals for the seniors, known as Masters tournament. This is an opportunity for our players. They can represent the Delhi Masters team.

Manju scored field goals in the 24th and 27th minutes while Sonu Sharma netted one in the 34th minute. Sonu Sharma then netted two more goals to complete a hat-trick -- first through penalty corner in the 48th minute and the second through a field goal in the 52nd minute. Manju completed her hat-trick when she scored a field goal in the 59th minute.

Manju was named Player of the Final. Here is the list of Award winners.

Player of the Match: Manju (DU Alumna)Best Goalkeeper: Nidhi (Shyama Prasad Mukherjee College)Best Defender: Sangeeta Yadav (DU Alumna)Best Mid-Fielder: Inderpreet Kaur (DU Alumna)Best forward: Sonu Sharma (DU Alumna) (Top goalscorer)Player of The Tournament: Ekta (Vivekanand College)

Tags : DU Alumni, Vivekanand College, Delhi University, Hockey, Khalsa College