The five players at a temple in Shahbad on Thursday. Picture by Prem Singh

Shahbad (Haryana), Aug. 8: When eight-year-old Rani told father Rampal Singh she wanted to make a career in hockey, the horse-cart driver knew he couldn’t even afford to buy her a stick.

“Being a poor man, I couldn’t imagine how a sport could become a career,” Rampal, 58, recalled in his mud-caked house in this town of 50,000, a little over an hour’s drive from Chandigarh.

Today, the town is celebrating the triumphant homecoming of Rani, now 18, and four other young girls who were part of the Indian girls’ junior World Cup bronze-winning team in Germany. The achievement comes amid a 33-year medal drought for the country’s senior men’s and women’s hockey teams in the Olympics and World Cups.

Rani, the vice-captain, scored in the third-place play-off against England and was adjudged player of the tournament. She, Navjyot, Monica, Manjeet and Navneet are daughters of farmers, mechanics and policemen none of whom have ever seen the world outside Haryana but did not flinch from encouraging their daughters to take up the sport.

“Why should her gender have made a difference? Today, she has made the entire country proud,” said Bhuta Singh, father of Navneet, 17, who scored the winner against England.

Bhuta and Rampal are not exceptions in Shahbad, which accounts for 12 players in India’s current senior women’s team.

The entire town attributes the success to Dronacharya coach Baldev Singh, who has trained 51 international hockey players, men and women, since taking over the local hockey academy in 1991.

Residents say that since most of the girls came from impoverished homes, Baldev personally arranged milk for his wards. “I am Navneet’s father only in name; Baldev Singh is her guardian in all respects,” Bhuta said.

It was Baldev who gave Rani her first hockey stick and the rest of her kit. The lanky forward is considered the next big star in the game.

At 14, she set the record for Indian hockey’s youngest international debut. At 15, she was the youngest player at the 2010 junior women’s World Cup where her seven goals — including two in the span of one minute against South Africa — put her in the International Hockey Federation’s girls’ team of the year.

“My family toiled to make ends meet — my two brothers are carpenters — but they somehow ensured I found a way to practise,” Rani said.

Early this year, Rani got a job as a railway clerk and wants her father to quit working. “But he doesn’t listen to me; I hope I can persuade him now,” she laughed.

Rani has kept her promise of turning hockey into a career, but her earning opportunities are piffling compared with those before cricketers and even footballers.

For now, she and the other girls are looking forward to home-cooked meals. “I’m tired of the boiled stuff they served in Germany; I want roti and chicken with lots of masala,” grinned Manjeet as Monica smacked her lips.

That’s only for a day, though. Tomorrow, all five have to return to the national camp in Patiala.