Rani Rampal (born 4 December 1994) is an Indian former hockey player and the most celebrated forward the women’s team has had. The daughter of a cart-puller from Haryana, she played for India at fourteen, scored 205 international goals and captained the side that finished fourth at the Tokyo Olympics, India’s best result in women’s hockey. She has received the Khel Ratna and the Padma Shri.
Quick Facts
| Full name | Rani Rampal |
| Born | 4 December 1994, Shahabad Markanda, Kurukshetra district, Haryana |
| Age | 31 |
| Sport | Field hockey |
| Position | Forward |
| India career | 2008–2023; 254 matches and 205 goals |
| Major results | Fourth, Tokyo Olympics (2020); Asian Games silver (2018) and bronze (2014); Asia Cup gold (2017); Junior World Cup bronze (2013) |
| Awards | Arjuna Award (2016), World Games Athlete of the Year (2019), Padma Shri (2020), Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna (2020) |
| Coach | Baldev Singh |
Early Life
She was born at Shahabad Markanda, a small town in Haryana that has produced many women hockey players. Her father pulled a cart and her mother worked as a domestic help. The family lived in a mud house that flooded in the rains, and there was often not enough to eat.
At six she went to the Shahabad Hockey Academy and asked the coach, Baldev Singh, a Dronacharya awardee, to take her on. He refused at first, thinking her too thin and undernourished to stand the training. She practised with a broken stick until he relented. Players had to bring half a litre of milk to each session; her family could afford less, and she topped it up with water.
Career
The youngest
She joined the senior national team in 2008, aged fourteen, the youngest player ever to represent India in women’s hockey. At the World Cup in Argentina in 2010 she scored seven goals, India’s most, and was named the best young player of the tournament. She was fifteen.
Junior World Cup, 2013
She led the attack as India won the bronze medal at the Junior World Cup in Germany, the country’s first medal at that event, and was named player of the tournament.
Senior success
- **2014:** bronze at the Asian Games in Incheon
- **2016:** India qualified for the Rio Olympics, the women’s first appearance at the Games in thirty-six years
- **2017:** gold at the Asia Cup in Japan, with Rani as captain
- **2018:** silver at the Asian Games in Jakarta and a quarter-final at the World Cup in London
The goal for Tokyo
In November 2019, in the second leg of the Olympic qualifier against the United States at Bhubaneswar, India had lost a four-goal lead when she scored in the final quarter. It was the goal that took India to Tokyo. Soon afterwards she won the public vote for World Games Athlete of the Year, the first hockey player to do so.
Tokyo
At the Olympics, held in 2021, India lost their first three matches, recovered to reach the quarter-finals, and there beat Australia 1–0, one of the great upsets in Indian sport. They lost the semi-final to Argentina and the bronze medal match to Great Britain by 4–3. Fourth place was the best finish in the history of Indian women’s hockey.
Last years
Injuries kept her out of the team for long periods after Tokyo, and she was left out of later squads, a decision she questioned in public. She announced her retirement in October 2024. Hockey India retired her number 28 jersey.
After Playing
She has taken up coaching, working with India’s junior girls, and has been a mentor in the women’s Hockey India League. A hockey stadium at Rae Bareli was named after her in 2023, the first in the country named for a woman player.
Honours
- Arjuna Award (2016)
- Padma Shri (2020)
- Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna (2020)
Personal Life
With her earnings she built her parents a house in Shahabad. She has worked as an official of the Sports Authority of India. She has said she wanted to give her parents the life they never had.
Featured image: Rani Rampal in 2016. Photo by Patrika News, licensed under CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
