Rani says she’s lucky, despairs for others
MUMBAI: Over the last three weeks, two of them spent in isolation after testing positive for Covid-19, Rani Rampal went to sleep every night with a little fear in her. “Ki kal pata nahi kaunsi news aayegi (one never knows what news you will get tomorrow),” she says.
The captain of the Tokyo Olympics-bound Indian women’s hockey team, six teammates and two support staff tested positive in April end on returning from home to the national camp at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Bengaluru. All were asymptomatic.
Their infections came as the second wave of the pandemic raged in India and frantic calls were being made, especially on social media, for hospital beds and oxygen cylinders.
“I felt a bit sad and shocked when I found I was positive,” Rani says from Bengaluru. “With the current situation in our country, kahin na kahin dar rehta hai (you do feel scared). Sometimes you don’t show symptoms the first or second day, but after a few days it develops.”
Fortunately for Rani, that wasn’t the case. The dire situation outside the team’s bubble in the SAI premises—Bengaluru saw an exponential jump in daily positives and deaths in that period—though was hard to ignore. Indian hockey too suffered losses, with the death of Moscow Olympics gold medallists MK Kaushik (he was national coach when Rani made her India debut) and Ravinder Pal Singh due to Covid being the biggest.
“Every day during quarantine, the first thing I did on waking up was offer a prayer. The situation is really bad in the country and the least I could do was pray for the people, for their suffering to reduce. Lot of people have lost their loved ones. I could feel that pain.”
Rani feels blessed that she was under constant care—monitored by doctors and team physio with support from SAI and Hockey India. She knew it was a luxury not many in the country had, for themselves or their loved ones.
Feeling blessed
“People were struggling to find hospital beds, to get hold of oxygen cylinders; many people lost their jobs, many were not able to get a meal. At least we were safe in our rooms, getting nutritious meals.”
For the 26-year-old, keeping the mind occupied while being confined to a room for 14 days amid a climate of despair was the biggest challenge. She turned her focus to getting good sleep, doing light workouts, reading books and watching videos of her matches.
“It takes only a second for negative thoughts to enter your mind. To keep that away takes a lot of effort. I watched my hockey videos, to reflect on how I began my life, my hockey and where I have managed to reach today. I spoke to my family at least 2-3 times a day. Every time they would be concerned, ask if I was doing fine.”
Daily Zoom calls
So did India’s Dutch coach, Sjoerd Marijne, support staff members and players in the core group that had assembled in Bengaluru to resume preparations for Tokyo after a break.
“We were all on Zoom calls daily. The coach would call us at least once daily. Our physio would call us frequently, asking if we were having any trouble physically,” says Rani, who led India to silver at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta.
“The coaches and support staff motivated us a lot. They said, “We know staying in a room for two weeks is difficult, but you are all mentally strong enough to do it. Don’t worry about your hockey and fitness. We will make sure you all get it back. Just focus on health now. If at any point you feel even a hint of negativity, call us”. That was so reassuring.”
Rani and her team-mates hit the hockey turf from Monday, taking tiny steps to regain their game and fitness.
Fitness hit
“It feels a little different. Hockey is a game which requires speed, endurance and agility. All of that has taken a bit of a hit. But it’s fine. It’s been a week of slow progress; hopefully over the next two-three weeks we can get back the same rhythm as before,” says the forward with 241 caps and 118 goals for India.
About a third of the core group players testing positive is a fresh obstacle as the team tries to find momentum with just over two months left for the Tokyo Games.
While the men’s side managed a few Pro League matches in the last couple of months before many countries closed their borders with India, the women’s team has had two exposure tours this year, the last one to Germany in February-March.
It was only training after that until a month’s schedule was wiped out due to the infections and the 10-day break prior to that.
“The rhythm you need before an event like the Olympics has been broken. But the situation right now around the world is such that you can’t change anything. The only thing you can do is try and keep yourself and others safe. Even now, we have belief that we can reach our peak before the Olympics,” Rani says.
For now, Rani’s concern is the health and safety of everyone around. Hockey has momentarily dropped down the priority list.
“Hopefully, the situation with Covid gets better soon,” Rani says. “Ab toh too much ho gaya hai (it’s become too much now).
“We are still fine here, but how painful it must be for those families who have lost multiple members; it’s hard to even imagine. Sports right now is secondary. Pehle toh life rahe wohi badi baat hai abhi (staying alive, that itself is a big deal now).”