While watching some of the old movies, there is always a belief that the film would have a happy ending. Even in the real world, the gut feeling continues to give signals to the brain that everything will be fine at some point. But the gut feeling may not always send out the right signs. Consider the legendary career of Savita Punia, the Indian goalkeeper. Despite investing much of her life into hockey, Savita’s career ledger records heartbreaks and more heartbreaks. It makes you wonder, how can sport be so cruel? And how can a great athlete wear so many emotions and still soldier on?
Around two years ago, after India failed to qualify for the Olympics, Savita had said this to RevSportz: “There is no point continuing. Main aur khelna nahi chahti [I don’t wish to play any more].”
A distraught Savita sitting on her haunches after India lost to Japan in the third-place playoff in Ranchi, and being consoled by her teammate Nikki Pradhan, turned out to be a poignant moment.
We have to also revisit the Tokyo Olympics. In the quarter-final of that mega event, Savita was India’s pillar of strength, having made seven penalty-corner saves. Unfortunately, in the bronze-medal match, Grace Baldson’s powerful drag-flick went through the legs of Punia and into the back of the net. As Team GB took the lead, all that a shattered Savita could do was look down and wipe a tear or two.
Fast-forward to 2026, and Savita was back in the Indian set-up after taking a 10-month break from the sport. In the subsequent Round 2 of the Women’s World Cup, India were very close to defeating Australia, which in turn would have charted their route to a historic semi-final. It wasn’t to be, as a goalless draw saw India bowing out of medal contention.
Once more, the cameras zoomed in on Savita, with the experienced player down in a pool of tears. Bichu Devi also had a few tears rolling down her face. It’s just that she is 25 and has a long road ahead of her.
Leaving aside Savita’s journey of gut-wrenching losses, there is the small matter of analysing the Indian women’s team’s performance in the World Cup held in the Netherlands and Belgium. The defensive lines held up for most of the tournament, including against higher-ranked opponents like the Netherlands and China. It’s just that they didn’t create enough opportunities. And when they created a few of them, they weren’t converted into goals. In the Australia-India game, Nikki had acres of space in front of her, but she couldn’t find the back of the net.
In the 45th minute, Navneet turned one on the edge of the circle and passed it to Baljeet Kaur, who cut it back to Deepika Sehrawat, but the final touches went missing. Basically, there were too many mispasses, and India weren’t good enough on the ball. Even against the stellar Netherlands side, Sunelita Toppo, Navneet Kaur and Deepika came close to finding the back of the net, but they couldn’t produce the elusive goal.
To summarise, India did punch above their weight in parts. Sjoerd Marijne, the India head coach, however, would know that the team is still a work in progress, and they need to unearth a few missing nuts and bolts before the Asian Games.
Oh! Asian Games. It once again makes you recall Savita. You don’t want to remember a champion player as the ‘Tragedy Queen’, à la Meena Kumari in movies from those bygone times. Instead, she deserves a happy ending or a fairytale narrative where Savita wears a gold medal in what could be one of the final chapters of her glittering career.
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