Didn’t face bias due to my caste in sport, says Olympic star Vandana Kataria

HARIDWAR: Her family may have faced casteist slurs recently, but for hockey player Vandana Kataria, the field proved a great equaliser. “I have not faced any discrimination due to my caste in sport,” said the Olympic star as she came home to a rousing reception on Wednesday.
Large sections of her village in Haridwar’s Roshnabad, including members of the dominant caste, lined up to shower rose petals on her.Roshnabad had been spruced up with new LED lights put up by the administration to welcome Katariya, who had made headlines after scoring a hat-trick against South Africa in Tokyo.

The Olympian at a press conference at Graphic Era University in Dehradun
There had been tension in the locality till last week after three men were arrested for hurling casteist slurs at her family following the women’s hockey team’s loss at the Olympic semi-finals. While Kataria said she did not want to comment on the issue, residents said “past issues had been buried and forgotten" and they were ready to welcome the "pride of their village”.
For Katariya’s mother, her homecoming was a long awaited one. Sauran Devi told TOI her daughter was returning after a year and a half. She had been unable to attend the last rites of her father – who passed away three months ago – due to her training. “I did not know how to face Vandana without her father. I was trying to control my emotions but when I saw her I wept. She also cried,” she said.

As the mother-daughter mourned their loss, Katariya recalled that her father had bought her the first hockey stick. “He encouraged me to practise daily, just like a coach. He would have been so happy to see me today, but it was not meant to be. While returning home, I was full of emotions – happy to be coming back after performing well but sad that my father won’t be there.”
At Roshnabad, Katariya also visited the stadium where she learned to play hockey. She recalled how the newly built stadium in 2001 had no suitable field, trainers or other facilities, so the girls chose to play Kho-Kho. “I played Kho-Kho for two years. I went to Tamil Nadu to play national level in Kho-Kho. But once, the ground was levelled and we heard that the women’s hockey team coach was looking for players, those who played Kho-Kho joined the hockey team.”
The decision came with its challenges, but financial hurdles and patriarchal attitudes did little to deter Katariya. “It wasn’t easy for a girl from a village to go out and play, especially when coming from a poor family like mine. Two of my sisters are also hockey players and many times we had to use a single hockey stick. We also had one pair of shoes which we shared,” she said. On Wednesday, Katariya addressed a gathering at the Graphic Era University in Dehradun.
Talking about the importance of team spirit, she said the hockey team shared a family-like bond which helped them perform well in the Tokyo Olympics. “All of us stand by each other during tough times,” she said. Earlier, when news broke of Katariya's family being subjected to casteist slurs, team captain Rani Rampal had come to her support, urging people to “rise above casteism”. Katariya’s brother Saurabh said it was sad to see that “families of Olympians also face such acts”. “We want strict action against the accused who were jealous of my sister’s success,” he said.
(Inputs by Mohammad Anab)