Savita Punia is an Indian women’s field hockey goalkeeper. She is also a hockey player and a member of the Indian national field hockey team. In 2018, he received the Arjuna Award for his outstanding performance in hockey.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Savita Punia was born on Wednesday, 11 July 1990 (age 31 years; as in 2021) in village Jodhkan, Sirsa district, Haryana, India. His zodiac sign is Cancer. She did her schooling from Maharaja Agrasen Girls School, Haryana.
Physical Appearance
Height (Approx): 5′ 7″
Weight (Approx): 60 kg
Hair Color: Black
Eye colour: black
family and caste
parents and siblings
The names of his parents are not known.
Savita Punia with her mother
Savita Punia with her father
His grandfather’s name is Mahinder Singh.
Savita with her grandfather
He has a brother and a sister.
Savita Punia with her brother and sister-in-law
Savita Punia with her sister
Husband
On 5 April 2023, she married Canada-based software engineer Ankit Balhara at Park Plaza, a hotel in Chandigarh.
Savita Punia’s wedding photo
livelihood
Savita Punia was encouraged to play hockey by her grandfather during her school days. Soon, he got admission in the Sports Authority of India (SAI) center in Hisar. His first hockey coach was Sundar Singh Kharab. In the initial phase of learning hockey, Savita was not much interested in the game. Later his father bought him a hockey kit worth twenty thousand rupees. This hockey kit paved the way for taking the game seriously. According to Savita, the hockey kit bought by her father changed her mind about playing the game. He revealed in an interview,
My outlook towards the game changed after my dad bought me a kit. My enthusiasm for working hard and being selected for the national team was a way of repaying him for the efforts he made for me.”
In 2007, he started training under top goalkeeper. Soon, she participated in a state level hockey competition in Lucknow and stood first. In an interview, he spoke about his family circumstances when he started playing national level sports.
From the fifth grade onwards, I took care of everything at home after my mother fell ill and was hospitalized. But my grandfather was adamant that I leave home to achieve something else and the rest of the family was also very open-minded and wanted me to achieve something.”
In 2007, he played his first national level hockey event. In 2008, Savita Punia made her international debut at the Four Nations event in the Netherlands and Germany. In 2009, she played in the Junior Asia Cup as a member of the Indian hockey team. Punia played his first senior level international match in 2011. He has played more than 100 games at international level. In 2013, she played in the eighth Women’s Asia Cup held in Malaysia and stopped two key goals in the penalty shoot-out which helped India win the bronze medal. Savita Punia was part of the Indian hockey team that won the bronze medal at the Incheon Asian Games in 2014. Punia was awarded the Baljeet Singh Goalkeeper of the Year Award as well as a cash prize of Rs at the Hockey India Annual Awards in 2015. 1 Lac. He earned this award for his outstanding international contribution to the game of hockey. In 2016, Punia gave his best performance as a goalkeeper in the last moments of the match, defending the balls at the penalty corner against Japan. With this, India won the match 1-0 and entered the Rio Olympics after 36 years. In 2017, at the Hawke’s Bay Cup in New Zealand, their excellent performance in the match led to the Indian hockey team finishing sixth in the tournament. Around the same year, her exceptional performance as a goalkeeper helped the Indian women’s hockey team defeat Chile in Round 2 of the final championship. In 2018, as an excellent goalkeeper, he saved India from China in the final match of the Asia Cup. After the match, he was awarded the Goalkeeper of the Tournament award. The win helped the women’s Indian hockey team enter the 2018 World Cup in London. Indian women’s hockey team selected for Tokyo Olympics 2020. In a conversation with a media house, Savita Punia told about her feelings and goals,
Rio is over and our aim is to return from Tokyo with a medal. There is immense confidence in this team and this group can beat any top team on any given day. Now there is no atmosphere of fear within us.”
medal
- 2014: Bronze Medal – 3rd place in team at Asia Cup, Incheon, South Korea
- 2017: Gold Medal – 1st place in team in Gifu, Japan
- 2018: Silver Medal – 2nd in team at the Asian Games, Jakarta
Favorite
- Workout Exercise: Strength
- Winning Moment: Asia Cup in 2017 (Best GK) and Asian Games in 2018 (Silver Medal) and Arjuna Award.
Facts/General Knowledge
- In her spare time, Savita Punia enjoys watching movies and reading about goalkeeping and the experiences of other goalkeepers.
- In the early stages of hockey practice, he started playing as a midfielder. After a year, his hockey guru Sundar Singh Kharb wanted him to become a goalkeeper. The reason behind this was his height and he also advised him that goalkeeping would increase his chances of selection in the Indian hockey team. His grandfather had told in an interview,
Kharb sir told me that Savita can be a good goalkeeper because of her height. In fact, when she was 12 or 13 years old, she had guaranteed me that she would be in the Indian team.
- In 2016, Punia accused the Haryana government of promising him a job under the ‘Medal Lao, Naukri Pao’ scheme, but he was not given a job. He said in an interview,
I have been given only assurances by government officials. This is what I have been living on for the last three years.”
- In 2018, Savita Punia received the Arjuna Award for her exceptional performance in hockey goalkeeping.
Savita Punia receiving the Arjuna Award for hockey in 2018
- According to Savita Punia, her sports idol is her grandfather. In his biography he said,
My grandfather, it is because of him that I am here. He always supported me a lot. He was always very encouraging and I think I am where I am today because of his encouragement and blessings. I remember when I played for India for the first time, grandfather heard this news in the newspaper, and at the age of 67 he decided to learn to read. After about a year, he learned to read and then made me sit with him and read the news out loud. It was really a great moment and the biggest inspiration for me.”
- While talking to a media house, he told that in the beginning of learning, he was afraid of hockey ball. In an interview he revealed,
I studied in a hostel after sixth grade. The hostel was two hours away from home. I used to make many excuses to avoid hockey training. Because of my height I was made a goalkeeper. I was very afraid of the ball.”
- According to Punia, his first experience representing India at the international level gave him goosebumps. He expressed in an interview,
I remember the first time I stepped on the field and sang the national anthem – I got goosebumps and I decided I wanted to do it with all my heart. This was a life changing moment for me. Even though I was the second choice goalkeeper after Deepika Murthy at that time, it was a great experience.
- In an interview, Punia said that hockey brought great respect to his family and it was his favorite thing about the game of hockey. He said,
My family has gained a lot of respect through hockey – and that’s my favorite part. When I started playing, no one played sports in my village. Now, because of my performance and because people have come to know about me.”
- As a sports personality, Punia does extensive high-intensity workouts every day. In an interview he said,
Our day usually starts with individual high-intensity workouts or body-weight training, and then we move on to some analysis that our coaching staff gives us individually.
Savita Punia doing gym
- Savita Punia sharing her thoughts on winning a match in a video interview.
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn