Orissa's Jyoti

This could be something straight out of the film- “Chak De India”. Coming from a tribal village, Bagburah of Sundargarh district in Orissa, Jyoti has been able to make her mark in the Indian women’s hockey. The lethal centre forward, racing down the turf is also the captain of Indian women hockey team. Always interesed in sports, Jyoti, who studied in Chhadalaga government girls school chose hockey as her favourite game. Her training started under Shova Kulu. Her next destination was the birth place of hockey, Panposh Sports Hostel. This is where, she honed her skills. It was 1989 she stepped onto the field and captured the imagination of the hockey lovers. As she moved with the ball towards the rival goal posts, the country watched her panther like movement with awe. She was being trained by K. C. Chaudhry. . As a leading player both in the junior and senior hockey team of Orissa she caught the attention of the national selectors. Her career took a new turn in 1995-96 when she was selected as the Centre Forward for the national team. She never looked back, after that. Her skills with the stick, and ability to dribble the ball and smash it into the rivals’ goals made her famous in the international circuit. She travelled to Korea, Japan, China, Germany, England, New Zealand and Australia to play various tournaments. Following her sterling performance, she was made the vice-captain of the national women’s hockey team. For the last 10 years, Jyoti Suneeta Kulu has zipped ahead of others to become one of the greats in Indian hockey. She has participated in tri-nation hockey tournament in 1996, World Cup (1997), four-nation tournament(1997), Asiad(1998) and Commonwealth games (2002 & 2006). In each and every game her performance remained flawless. 2006 saw two major events in Jyoti’s life.This year, she was given the responsibility to lead the Indian team and on April 26, also tied the knot with Albert Tete. Even today her march to success continues unabated. Yet it was not in her home town, where she got a job. She was compelled to join a government service in Punjab on October 30, 1995. Most of her time is spent in Kapurthala. When contacted Jyoti virtually lashed out: “Its not me only. There are other players from the state, who are not being nurtured porperly and were not getting any employment in the state.” This ace hockey player still dreams to lead her team to the Olympics. The time perhaps has not yet come.But this girl from Orissa has not lost her hope. She is still waiting to fulfill her dreams and is confident that the day will come, when her team India will bring home the gold.