Deogarh: Sonia Kumari Topno has a dream. Hockey propelled her out of her impoverished village in Odisha’s Deogarh, and now she is sprinting towards her next goal: winning a spot on the Indian women’s team. She is confident because Deogarh hockey dreams have a way of coming true.
In her home district, hockey has turned into a passport out of despair and desolate poverty. More than Virat Kohli or Sachin Tendulkar, residents idolise homegrown talent turned hockey heavyweight Roshan Minz.
“Hockey isn’t just a sport for me, it is a dream that I live every day on the ground and in my sleep. Our heroes aren’t very famous but their journey motivates us to do better. One day I will motivate the little girls in my town to do better and become something,” Sonia, 20, said.
Both her brothers are just as passionate about hockey. One of them, Ashish, has even battled it out in two international clashes on the men’s turf.
Sonia has been grinding away on state- and national-level hockey fields for nine years. She stays at the government-run Panposh sports hostel in Rourkela, relentlessly training at the national camps and awaiting her moment of glory.
She has plenty of company from Deogarh here. Many boys and girls from the district’s villages flock to Rourkela and Bhubaneswar for a shot at their hockey goals. But they are the lucky ones, with access to sturdy shoes, proper equipment, and astroturf fields.
Children learn to eat food later, but learn to pick up a hockey stick earlier here
-Bilas Ekka, hockey coach
Others back home are still scooping, shooting, and tackling in farmlands, forest clearings, and muddy village grounds, usually barefoot or in slippers.
Now, the famously hockey-loving Odisha government is taking action. Joining forces with corporate giant Tata, it is set to launch grassroots training camps whose aim will be to discover raw talent and groom future national hockey stars. While a bare-bones centre is already operational in Deogarh, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced a new facility earlier this year, complete with astroturf.
“Children learn to eat food later, but learn to pick up a hockey stick earlier here,” said Bilas Ekka, a hockey coach in Deogarh. “Almost every house has a hockey player and every house has hockey fans.”
There is now a distinct Odisha geotag of sorts to Indian hockey.
Also Read: Cricket in Kashmir has always had a troubled pitch. Now women are helping change the game
Bare feet and big dreams
Odisha’s hockey scene has been ablaze for the last five years. It has hosted two FIH World Cups, opened the state-of-the-art Birsa Munda hockey stadium in Rourkela, and sponsored the men’s and women’s national teams to the tune of Rs 100 crore so far. The teams, in fact, wear uniforms with ‘Odisha’ emblazoned on them.
There is now a distinct Odisha geotag of sorts to Indian hockey.
There has also been a heightened focus on raising the next generation of world-class Odisha born-and-bred players.
In 2019, the government teamed up with Tata Steel to launch the Odisha Naval Tata Hockey High-Performance Centre. The idea was to feed this academy with talent from regional training institutes, sports hostels, and grassroots camps scattered across the state.
Deogarh got its sole Naval Tata Hockey Academy in January 2021 at Nutan Karadapal village. Hidden deep inside thick forests, this village is where hockey hero Roshan Minz honed his game. He also inaugurated the centre.
International Hockey player and also son of Kardapal Village @Roshanminz18 Inaugurated @NavalTata Grassroot Centre Kardapal at Government Primary School Kardapal, Deogarh Dist.@sports_odisha @Deogarhdistadmn @spdeogarh @DilipTirkey @FlorisJBovel @vishaldevk @rvineel_krishna pic.twitter.com/294KtCOFKH
— Hockey Lovers Odisha (@HockeyLuvOdisha) January 24, 2021
At the grassroots centre, around 175 players from four panchayats come to train and practice. They receive uniforms, sticks, and shoes from the academy and the services of three full-time coaches, including Bilas Ekka.
However, the academy lacks well-groomed grass practice grounds, let alone the type of high-tech synthetic turfs that the Federation of International Hockey (FIH) deems as the modern professional standard. During the monsoon season, the field turns to sludge, making it difficult to conduct more advanced tactical drills or master precise ball control.
“We can only give basic training routines to the players. There is no turf and when it rains it gets difficult to play here,” Ekka said. “Wherever we go to play, we get beaten because of the ground. There is a lot of difference between playing on grass and playing on clay ground.”
Though players now have some equipment, many still play barefoot. It’s reminiscent of the ‘golden era’ of Indian men’s football in the 1950s, when players like defender Jarnail Singh, striker Chuni Goswami, and midfielder Arun Ghosh put the country on the football map as the “Brazil of Asia”. Leading the charge then was legendary coach Syed Abdul Rahim. His attacking approach helped deliver two Asian Games golds (1951, 1962) and a 1956 Olympics semifinal berth.
But despite the glorious precedent, the hockey players know that one misstep on uneven ground can crush their lifelong dreams.
“I don’t have shoes so I am playing in slippers. The coach has asked the DSO (district sports officer)m who assured us that he will do something. Everyone recognises our love for hockey but they overlook the limited resources we have,” said a player during a training drill, his feet completely covered in dust.
Another big grouse here has been that one training centre is not enough for all of Deogarh’s aspirations. But a ray of hope appeared in July when Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik announced that a state-of-the-art hockey training centre with an astroturf field would be set up in the district, likely in Karadapal.
Land is being scouted for, the paperwork has started, and the villagers see it as a reward for their devotion to hockey. But they are also getting impatient.
“We are so happy that the CM has announced the new centre. The district magistrate also visited the site recently. But we don’t know when the work will start. It is only on paper for now,” said Deogarh resident Deepak Ekka.
Somesh Upadhyay, district magistrate of Deogarh, said that the villagers won’t have to wait long.
“We had a discussion with the community and players and it (Karadapal) is a potential site. The process has started and the centre will start getting built very soon,” he said.
‘Hockey changed my life’
Odisha has produced many hockey champions, but for Deogarh residents, there is no one like striker Roshan Minz.
Parents tell their children about how hockey catapulted him from poverty and kids want to be just like him. When he returns home and visits the Tata Naval grassroots centre, a crowd gathers and kids hanker to learn a few moves from him.
Minz grew up watching his father drag-flicking and dribbling in local tournaments, chasing in his footsteps from the age of seven, using a wooden stick cut from a tree.
In 1998, he defied all odds, charging through gruelling trials to earn a coveted spot at the sports hostel in Rourkela. Despite limited resources and training, he competed for Odisha in state-level hockey for nearly a decade until his national selection.
It was difficult for us to get food in my struggling days, but hockey has changed my life completely. I want this for kids in my village
– Roshan Minz
His biggest moment in the international sun came in 2007 as a sprightly 19-year-old squad member in India’s title-winning Asia Cup campaign. Now 36, he works as an assistant manager at the Indian Oil Corporation and plays for its team at the domestic level. He has a 3 BHK flat in Bhubaneswar, where he lives with his wife. His parents still reside in the village.
“It was difficult for us to get food in my struggling days, but hockey has changed my life completely. I want this for kids in my village. I always tell them to work hard,” he told ThePrint.
But Deogarh has been a late bloomer in Odisha’s hockey success story. The ‘cradle’ of the sport here is Sundergarh. Hockey India president and former national captain Dilip Tirkey, Tokyo bronze medallist and current vice-captain Amit Rohidas, and 24-year-old defender Nilam Sanjeep Xess are all from this district.
Players from Deogarh, in contrast, have more often been on the fringes of national selection, like 25-year-old Ashish Kumar Topno who has made two senior men’s side appearances since his 2019 debut. But there is also Rashmita Minz, 25, with 13 international caps for India since her teenage debut.
Roshan Minz is enthusiastic that the grassroots centres will lead to more hidden talent being discovered.
“Deogarh has a lot of talent and it has a capacity to bring out many players for the country. It has only been two years since Tata started its grassroots centre there, and they have recently started getting resources,” he said.
Hockey is beloved across the state, but cities like Bhubaneswar and Rourkela have received the bulk of the funds, sponsorships, and infrastructural focus.
Stark contrasts
In January, the gleaming stadiums at Rourkela and Bhubaneswar welcomed teams from over a dozen different countries for the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup. Germany took the trophy, but Odisha got all the accolades for its “tireless” work to promote hockey.
But the Karadapal grassroots centre is a world apart from the astroturfed glamour of the big-city stadiums. The road connecting the village to the highway is dusty, potholed, and barely motorable.
At the centre of the village stands a big multipurpose tree— refuge from rain, meeting hub, and the main landmark for the hockey training centre.
On an overcast August afternoon, Deogarh’s new DSO Rajib Lochan Nayak stood at the spot, meeting the players, and taking stock of infrastructural potential at the hockey centre.
“Young players’ love for hockey is admirable and we will do our best to provide better facilities,” he said.
So far, most of the state’s hockey spending has been concentrated on big-ticket international tournaments.
The Odisha government, which hosted and sponsored the last two men’s Hockey World Cups, drastically increased its expenditure this year. In 2018, it spent Rs 66.98 crore on the tournament, but in 2023, it shelled out Rs 1,098 crore, a nearly 16-fold increase.
There are also concerns that the showy Rs 875.8 crore Birsa Munda hockey stadium in Rourkela could become a “white elephant” like Montreal’s Olympic Stadium and Manaus’s Arena Amazonas, underutilised when high-profile international matches are not in play.
Questions have also been raised about the quality of the quickly built hockey-related infra in Odisha, especially after a new 40-foot statue of a hockey player crashed to the ground in Rourkela in June.
Hockey is beloved across the state, but cities like Bhubaneswar and Rourkela have received the bulk of the funds, sponsorships, and infrastructural focus, deepening the rural-urban socioeconomic divide.
“So many players from our district have honoured the state and country, but the road that connects our village to the main road hasn’t been built properly. Light and water problems only got fixed recently,” said Deogarh hockey player Binay Bilsan Ekka.
Jyoti Luther Topno, father of upcoming players Ashish and Sonia, expressed frustration at the government’s uneven spending.
Speaking to ThePrint during the Men’s Hockey World Cup in January, he said that while hockey was the love of his life, the government’s neglect of essential services like running water, especially in villages that had produced numerous professional players and stars, could not be overlooked.
“Such spending on World Cups is commonplace in Odisha. But it’s disappointing that the government does not spend enough on providing backup jobs and stable sources of income to our local players,” he said. “The government doesn’t seem to be paying attention to their issues and investing responsibly.”
Hockey ‘Goat’
Deogarh’s hockey spirit burns strong, with or without government support.
One cherished tradition is the ‘khasi’ tournament, which has been held in villages across Odisha for generations. ‘Khasi’ means male goat in Odia, and it’s the grand prize in these matches. The goat is the glue that brings the hockey community of Odisha together during victory celebrations.
“Most of us are from humble backgrounds. We wanted to get the word out about hockey, but didn’t have any money. Goats are plentiful in this area, so that’s what the winners receive,” said Deepak Ekka. “The victorious group plans a feast for later. People are still inspired by that. It’s a group outing that strengthens our friendship.”
On game days, the world pauses, work waits until tomorrow. Men, women, and children swarm the fields to cheer their favourite teams.
Manjeet Ekka, 14, of Talakundi village never misses a match. He has disabilities that prevent him from walking and talking, but he knows the language of hockey.
With a hockey stick firmly in hand, he took his place in his red-and-black wheelchair amidst the crowd at a game in Karadapal village this August.
It was just a practice match, but he bristled with excitement at every attack wave and goal. Although he couldn’t hold his neck straight, his eyes tracked the ball’s move. When his favourite players scored, he hooted loudly and raised his hockey stick in the air.
The next khasi tournament here will be in December. The players are already preparing for it and so is Manjeet. He wants to make a splash and show everyone what a die-hard fan he is.
“For the khasi tournament, he wants to change his wheelchair’s colour,” Manjeet’s uncle said. “We are planning to paint the wheelchair and hockey stick blue and green.”
(Edited by Asavari Singh)