Having scaled the zenith at a young age, the rousing reception at her home turf seems to have overwhelmed E. Rajani, who made India proud at the recently-concluded Rio Olympics. As the goalkeeper of the Indian hockey team, Ms. Rajani was reckoned ‘a solid wall’ by her rival team members, but the wall did melt at the shower of laurels, surge of emotions and selfie-seeking peers. She was felicitated thrice on a single day, for her achievement at Rio.
Chandragiri Zilla Parishad High School ground, which remains close to her heart for the scores of tournaments and zonal-level school games played here in the past, was incidentally chosen to honour the ‘daughter of the soil’. It was only as an eighth standard girl at Nerabailu ZP High School that Rajani came to know of hockey as a game, but she eventually picked up its nuances and emerged a force to reckon with.
The women’s hockey team was on the rampage at Rio right from the start and continued its winning spree till it had to take the much-stronger Argentinean team head-on. As Indian team qualified for Olympics after over three decades, there was a lot of pressure on us. “We could have performed better in that match against Argentina”, said Ms. Rajani.
Speaking to The Hindu on the sidelines of her felicitation function on Wednesday, Ms. Rajani sought state support in the form of sports academies in rural areas to unearth the skills in rural girls. “Girls from villages are strong enough to take rigorous practice, stay fit and also handle the pressure from various quarters. Academies can provide proper diet, inculcate sporting discipline and ensure regular practice among the girls”, she says. She said she owed her sporting career to her courageous parents, who braved the societal pressure and reposed confidence in her.
At the felicitation function organised by SIBAR Sports and Cultural Academy and Chandragiri Hockey Association, Chittoor MP N. Sivaprasad called her a jewel in the crown of Chittoor district and assured to talk to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on the need to open as many centres of the hockey academy as possible across the state to identify rural talent.
The felicitation was conducted by SIBAR coordinator A.Prasanna Kumar Reddy, who as the former Secretary of AP Women’s Hockey Association identified the eighth class girl and coached her to become what she is today. Sri Venkateswara and Sri Padmavathi Women's Universities also felicitated the girl.