Lalremsiami Hmarzote inspires Mizoram youngsters to play hockey; More kids want to start hockey

‘Someone wants to play hockey because of me’: Lalremsiami inspires Mizoram’s next generation

The Indian hockey star had limited opportunities growing up in Mizoram and now hopes more facilities can help the state’s aspiring players follow in her footsteps.

When Lalremsiami Hmarzote returns home to Mizoram these days, conversations with parents and children often turn to hockey .

Some want to know how their children can take up the sport. Others tell the Indian hockey star directly that they want to play themselves.

For Lalremsiami , who became the first woman from Mizoram to compete at the Olympics, those conversations have made an impact on her too.

“Now they inspire me even more!” Lalremsiami told Olympics.com .

“When I go to Mizoram, parents and kids come up to me and say that they want their children to play hockey, or the kids say they want to play hockey and ask how to start.

“For me, it’s a huge moment that someone wants to play hockey because of me. It’s very inspiring for me as well.”

The opportunities available to Lalremsiami when she was growing up in Kolasib were considerably more limited.

There was only one hockey academy in Mizoram that she could aim for and earning a place there was difficult. Travelling from Kolasib to the SAI centre in Thenzawl for trials itself took an entire day.

Lalremsiami began playing at school before being selected for trials and eventually earning a place at the academy.

The Sports Authority of India (SAI) Centre in Thenzawl, an eight- to nine-hour journey from her home in Mizoram, became the foundation of her career.

She joined the academy in 2011 at the age of 11 and spent the next few years developing there before moving to the National Hockey Academy in New Delhi in 2016.

“Even now when I think back, I feel very lucky,” she said. “That journey was very difficult because there was only one academy in Mizoram for hockey, and getting a seat there was extremely hard.”

From that beginning, Lalremsiami went on to represent India at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics , where the women’s hockey team finished fourth after narrowly missing out on a historic medal.

She believes greater access to hockey in Mizoram can give more youngsters an opportunity to pursue the sport.

“It is my dream that Mizoram gets more hockey grounds so that more kids can play,” Lalremsiami said.

“Not everyone will have the same journey as mine, but the more opportunities we give children, the more moments we create for them, the more girls can become hockey players and do even better than me.”

Lalremsiami will soon have another opportunity to provide those aspiring players with a major stage to watch.

India head to the Asian Games 2026 in Aichi-Nagoya after finishing fifth at the recent Hockey World Cup , their best result at the tournament in decades.

The World Cup campaign included matches against several of the world’s leading teams and has added to the confidence within the Indian camp.

“Playing good matches against European teams gives a lot of motivation and confidence to both the players and the team,” Lalremsiami said.

The Asian Games champions will also secure direct qualification for the LA 2028 Olympics , but Lalremsiami does not want India looking beyond the immediate task.

“It’s not just our team that is going for the gold medal. Every team will come for gold, and everyone will give their 100 per cent,” she said.

“We shouldn’t think too much about the result or the opponent. We will just focus on our own game, our own performance - both individually and as a team.”

Japan already holds important memories for Lalremsiami after India’s run to the semi-finals at Tokyo 2020. She hopes the team’s return to the country can produce another significant result.

“Japan has always been a good place for us,” she said. “Even at the Tokyo Olympics, we finished fourth.

“I believe that this time too, we can recreate that moment and become champions.”

By Ubaid Parkar and Aaron Matthew

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