Interview with Pritam Rani Siwach

Interview with Pritam Rani Siwach
First of all who dont know who is she, please visit here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pritam_Rani_Siwach
As you may be knowing that she is in Bhopal right now, so here’s an interview with her..

“If you want to get medal for your country, you need passion for it more than money and facilities.” – Pritam Rani

Q. You have achieved everything in hockey, what a player wishes to. Still you are playing?
A. I did comeback to hockey twice. First time in 2002 after having my son, that time I got a gold medal for country in Commonwealth Games. My best memories are of that time when we defeated England in their home ground, Manchester. When we were unable to qualify for the olympics in 2008, that time I decided that I will prepare such hockey players that could bring medals for the country.

Q. Hockey is our national game but why it hasn’t been able to get into common man?
A. I think we are not able to prepare ourselves on the basic level.We do perform in national tournaments but if we want to perform well at the international level, we need to practise at that level. Bhopal has some good stadiums, so we can expect some good players from here.

Q. Presently, money is an important factor in Sports. What do you think?
A. It’s not wrong that today, people play just for money but if players get good facilities than money doesn’t matters a lot.Players should play to get the respect of the country and to unite the people. In our country we do have sports, but what we lack is a sports culture.

Q. You take out time from your personal life, Railway job and your family for the upliftment of hockey, so what difficulties do you come across?
A. When we do some work to fulfill our dream, then every problem becomes small. Today , I give training to 80 girls. These girls maintain and clean the ground by herself, some are from very poor family.So if players get some good facilities , then we can perform very well.I would only say-“I alone take fights from thunders, so it’s Ocean’s responsibilty to save me.” Our team practise on grass in Sonipat. We dont have Astro Turf but this tournament is being held on it. So we just want to prove that success can be acived on the basis of passion and determination also….

This interview is translated by Vipul from hindi which was published in CITY BHASKAR, BHOPAL on 30th April, 2010 (http://digitalimages.bhaskar.com/dainikmp/EpaperPdf%5C30042010%5C29bct-pg1-0.pdf). We apologise if there is any mistake translation.