With Olympic dreams in her eyes, the Indian women’s hockey skipper wants to carry forward a family legacy.

By Sunil Taneja

Hockey in India is still a male bastion. Women’s hockey has been in the limelight for both good and bad causes but rarely for ‘family’ reasons! An instance where a family has produced brother-sister internationals is rather uncommon in India.

Interestingly, the current Indian hockey squads have such a unique duo: a brother-sister combo with a common goal – to seek a berth in the London Olympics later this year.

This Lakra family from Jharkhand in fact has three internationals. Bimal is a veteran international from among six siblings and he has passed the baton to brother Birender and sister Asunta, now the captain of the Indian women’s team for the upcoming Olympics qualifiers in New Delhi.

Hockey is a passion for young folk in the tribal belts of Orissa and Bihar. Almost every family has a touching tale to narrate when it comes to embracing the game.
Asunta’s is no different. Having had to borrow elder brother Binay’s shoes for a game on the rugged pitches of Simdega region, 25-year-old came up the hard way.

While the fruits of labour are always sweet, she carries the huge responsibility of taking a family tradition forward. Asunta looks media-shy at first glance but during her exclusive chat with ESPNSTAR.com, she emerged as a confident young lady with Olympic dreams in her eyes.

Excerpts:

Sunil Taneja: The Olympic qualifiers are very crucial for India. Are you under pressure?

Asunta Lakra: We were under pressure till a few weeks ago but as we come closer to the tournament, there is no pressure. We have been working very hard for the last six months and trying to rectify our shortcomings. The Test series against Azerbaijan was of great help and we identified our loopholes. We are trying to fix these grey areas in our camp.

ST: What are the shortcomings you have identified?

AL: There are two major things we are working on. One is scoring in the striking circle and other one is penalty-corner conversion. When we play our practice games against the boys' team, we concentrate mainly on penalty-corner conversions.

Fitness is also our key concern. Our support staff is working quite hard with us and the girls are responding really well.

ST: The Indian team is without senior players like Saba Anjum and Surinder Kaur. Do you feel the youngsters will fill their shoes nicely?

AL: Absolutely. We have plenty of young legs in the team and all the girls are very decent players and full of conviction. I have full faith in them, and we will surely deliver good results.

ST: In the coming qualifiers, which team you feel will give the stiffest competition? (India are clubbed with South Africa, Canada, Italy, Ukraine and Poland)

AL: I think all of them. We are not taking any team lightly. We have to beat all of them to qualify for the Olympics and god willing, we will do that.

ST: Your elder brother Bimal was a star player once and now younger brother Birender is also representing the country. So does that put extra pressure on you, being from a hockey family?

AL: No, it's a matter of pride for me that I am Bimal’s younger sister. My family has always supported me for this game. I have learnt a lot from Bimal and he has always encouraged me to take up all the challenges.

ST: You literally stepped into your brother’s shoes to play hockey!

AL (laughs): Yes, my brother Binay Lakra, who is unfortunately not in the world now, gave me his shoes to practice. He also gave me his hockey stick as I did not have one.