Vandana’s breathtaking 300-caps story
K. ARUMUGAM
India has a rich heritage of Women’s hockey. There had been a women’s league in some metros like Kolkata in the early 1920s. Their National Championship started in the late 1930s, stopped, and re-started in the 1940s. India is pioneer in bringing hockey into the fold of Asian Games (women’s version was included when India hosted the Asiad in 1982). No surprise therefore an Indian admino, Begum Aizal Rasool, was the first president of the Asian Women Hockey Federation who adorned the chair for about two decades. However, its players who bring the sport to the forefront. This has been accomplished today once again by ever-green star Vandana Katariya.