The Haridwar player is unlikely to become bogged down by heartbreaking defeat after overcoming gender restrictions and casteism.
Long before she began playing a significant part in the current resurgence of India’s women’s hockey team, Vandana Katariya had thought about taking her own life. Following her outstanding performance at the Tokyo Games, where India achieved a historic high by placing fourth, Katariya shone on Friday night in the Commonwealth Games semi-final in Birmingham against the favourites, Australia.
Following Rebecca Greiner’s goal in the 10th minute, Katariya scored the crucial equaliser in the 49th. In a close tie-breaker, India would ultimately lose. The squad experienced yet another heartbreak, but Katariya has proven she has what it takes to absorb suffering and come out stronger.
Following the Tokyo Olympics, Katariya had spoken of a viral virus that had rocked her world. Around 2009, when she was 17 and almost about to make the senior women’s hockey team, she developed a fever. She was so broken and in such a state of agony as a result that she could hardly speak over a crystal-clear phone connection as she relived the events of the following two years, saying, “Bas socha life khatam kar du.” I had the thought of killing myself at the time. That point had been attained).” In the most terrible of career slumps, she thought about taking her own life.
A memory that Katariya’s joyful present—a hat-trick at the Olympics, an encouraging fourth-place result for India’s great women’s team, a respectable performance at CWG 2022, and the awarding of the Padma Shri—cannot fully erase.