Rani Rampal led India’s women to fourth place at the Tokyo Olympics, the best finish the team has ever managed at the Games. She had come into the senior side as a schoolgirl from a small Haryana town, played more than 250 matches for India and captained the team through its strongest years. When she retired in October 2024, Hockey India retired her No. 28 shirt with her.
Name: Rani Rampal | Born: 4 December 1994, Shahabad Markanda, Kurukshetra, Haryana | Sport: Hockey | Position: Forward
Shahabad Markanda beginnings
Shahabad Markanda, in Kurukshetra district, has produced a long line of women hockey players, and Rani grew up in the middle of that culture. Her family had little money, and hockey was a hard sell at home at first. She kept at it, and her speed and finishing in the circle marked her out early.
She was fast-tracked into the national team and made her senior debut in 2008, still in her early teens, at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Kazan, Russia. It was the start of a senior career that would run for the best part of 16 years.
Junior World Cup and the first big medals
Rani did not leave junior hockey behind straight away. At the 2013 Junior World Cup she helped India to a bronze medal, the country’s first medal at that event, and she was named Player of the Tournament. It confirmed what coaches had been saying for some time: India had a forward who could decide matches on her own.
The following year she was part of the side that won bronze at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon. It was a sign that India’s women could compete with the leading Asian teams again after a long lean spell.
Captain of a rising side
Rani took over as captain and led the team from 2017 to 2021, a period in which India climbed the world rankings and began to beat sides they had rarely troubled. In 2017 she captained India to gold at the Asia Cup in Kakamigahara, Japan, ending a 13-year wait for the title. The win also carried a place at the 2018 World Cup.
At the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, India reached the final and took silver. Rani carried the Indian flag at the closing ceremony. In 2019 India came through the Olympic qualifiers to book a place in Tokyo, and in January 2020 she was voted World Games Athlete of the Year for 2019, with 199,477 votes. She was the first hockey player to win the award.
Tokyo 2020
The Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021 because of the pandemic, were the high point of her captaincy. India lost their first three group matches and looked to be heading home. They then won their last two group games to scrape into the quarter-finals, where they beat Australia 1-0, one of the biggest upsets in the history of the women’s game in India.
India lost the semi-final to Argentina and then the bronze medal match to Great Britain, finishing fourth. No Indian women’s hockey team had gone so far at an Olympics. The run changed how the women’s game was followed at home, and the players came back to a welcome normally reserved for medallists.
Later years and retirement
Injuries and selection limited Rani’s appearances after Tokyo, and younger players took over the leadership of the side. She announced her retirement on 24 October 2024, aged 29, with more than 250 caps for India. Hockey India marked the occasion by retiring her No. 28 jersey.
She had already moved towards coaching, working with the national sub-junior women’s team from 2023. She also joined the support staff at Soorma Hockey Club in the Hockey India League.
Honours on and off the pitch
Rani received the Arjuna Award in 2016. In 2020 she was given the Padma Shri and the Khel Ratna, the country’s highest sporting honour, in the same year. In March 2023 the hockey stadium in Rae Bareli was renamed Rani’s Girls Hockey Turf. She was the first woman hockey player in India to have a stadium named after her.
Career record and honours
- Senior India debut: 2008, Olympic qualifier, Kazan
- More than 250 international matches for India
- India captain, 2017 to 2021
- Olympic Games: fourth place, Tokyo 2020 (as captain)
- Asian Games: bronze, Incheon 2014; silver, Jakarta 2018 (as captain)
- Asia Cup: gold, Kakamigahara 2017 (as captain)
- Junior World Cup: bronze and Player of the Tournament, 2013
- World Games Athlete of the Year, 2019
- Arjuna Award, 2016
- Padma Shri, 2020
- Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna, 2020
- No. 28 jersey retired by Hockey India, 2024
