(Image source from: eastmojo.com)

Lalremsiami the star striker of India has become the first player from the women’s hockey team to win the FIH Rising Star of the Year award, as said by the International Hockey Federation (FIH) on Tuesday.

The International Hockey Federation has said in a statement that Lalremsami has taken the prize ahead of Julieta Jankunas of Argentina who has finished second and Frederique Matla of the Netherlands who has finished in the third place.

The 19- year- old Lalremsami has secured 40 per cent of all the votes that have been cast where in she had got 47.7 per cent of her votes from among the national associations and the 28.4 per cent of votes have been contributed by media and the remaining 36.4 per cent of the votes have been contributed by the fans and players.

Lalremsami has said that, “I didn’t expect to win it, but I’m so happy with my performance in 2019, and we qualified for the Olympics as well. I would like to dedicate this award for my team.”

Lalremsami is said to be based from Mizoram and she had made her start into the wider hockey consciousness at the Hockey Women’s World Cup in the year 2018 where in she had been one of the stand- out players of the tournament.

She had made her debut in the year 2017 in a test series against Belarus and had attained a name for herself as a striker of the phenomenal ability. She had been a top goalscorer for two times in her short senior career where in one was in a test series against Korea in the year 2017 and the other was against Spain in the year 2019.

Lalremsiami had scored a winning goal at the Ready Steady Tokyo event in a final match against Japan. The Ready Steady Tokyo event had taken place in the month of August, 2019. during the same event, India drew with the team that ranked at number two in the world Australia as well as drawing with Asian rivals China.

At the International Hockey Federation Series Finals in Hiroshima, India beat off the opposition from the other eight teams who were all seeking for securing a place in the Olympic Qualifiers. However, India had taken the top spot and had set up a double header against the United States of America.

Although Lalremsiami had lost her father during the course of the event, the player did not give up but instead stayed and had played for the team India. She had said that she wanted to make her father feel proud and therefore she wanted to stay in the game and play for the team making sure that the team India would get qualified.

Lalremsiami comes from a background of agricultural community from a village in Mizoram where the sport is not very famous and is only played by a few. She had to leave her home and join the hockey academy at Thenzawl which is said to be at around 150 kilometers from her home.

By Shrithika Kushangi