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National Sports Day 2025| Salima Tete on leading hockey team: ‘When Jana Gana Mana plays before a match it is like fuel’
Captain of the Indian women's hockey team, Salima Tete reflects on her journey, women in sport, and the pride of leading India on National Sports Day today.
For the captain of the Indian women’s hockey team, Salima Tete, the pride of leading India onto the field is unmatched—the anthem rising through the stadium, the tricolour waving high, her teammates beside her. “For me it is not about my name being called it is about standing shoulder to shoulder with my teammates knowing we represent the dreams of so many people and when Jana Gana Mana plays before a match it is like fuel—it reminds me why we fight so hard,” she says.
As the country celebrates National Sports Day today, the 23-year-old reflects on what those moments mean to her and to the game itself. Growing up in Simdega in Jharkhand, she recalls the time change from a time where she played without basic infrastructure to a time where she sees young girls coming up to her, and asking advice for the game .
“To now see people crowding into stadiums tuning in on TV and celebrating every win shows how much India has changed it feels like finally our stories are being heard and that is as important as the medals we bring back,” she says.
That change, she points out, is also reflected in the way women athletes are seen. “Earlier people would say hockey is too rough for girls that we should do something simpler but today the same people celebrate our Asian Games medals and our historic Olympic performances and for me that is a victory in itself because it proves that women are no longer asked to stay on the sidelines we are right at the centre of the field,” says Salima.
Salima looks back at her own journey, from captaining India to silver at the Youth Olympics in 2018, to stepping onto the Olympic stage, bringing home medals from the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games, and in 2024, becoming the first woman hockey player from Jharkhand to win the Arjuna Award. “None of this was easy but every step has been worth it if it shows even one young girl from a small village that her dream is possible,” she concludes.
