Vandana Kataria or Vandana Katariya is an Indian field hockey player who plays as a forward in the Indian women’s national hockey team. She came into limelight after scoring five goals for Team India in the 2013 Women’s Hockey Junior World Cup; India won the bronze medal in the tournament.
Contents
Wiki/Biography
Vandana Kataria was born on Wednesday, 15 April 1992 (age 29 years; as in 2021) in Roshnabad, Haridwar, Uttar Pradesh (now, Uttarakhand, India). His zodiac sign is Aries. Vandana was inclined towards sports since childhood. As a child, she would often go away from her home (to hide it from her elders who did not approve of her playing hockey) and practice her moves with tree branches. His father always supported him to play sports (hockey).
Physical Appearance
Height: 5′ 2″
Weight: 51 kg
Hair Colour: Brown
Eye colour: brown
Family
Vandana’s father Nahar Singh worked as a master technician in BHEL, Haridwar. He was once a wrestler. His father died three months before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Vandana could not attend her father’s funeral as she was on her training period for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. There is not much information about his mother. He has an elder brother, Chandrashekhar Kataria.
Caste
Vandana Kataria belongs to a Dalit family.
livelihood
Vandana made her junior international debut (team) in hockey in 2006 and her senior international debut (team) in the year 2010. In 2013, she was part of the Indian national team that won the bronze medal at the 2013 Junior World Cup. In Mönchengladbach, Germany. Katariya was India’s top scorer in the tournament; He scored 5 goals in 4 games. Vandana won her 100th cap during the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, when she was playing against Canada.
Vandana Kataria during hockey tournament
During the 2015 FIH Hockey World League, Vandana scored 11 goals (top scorer) in Round-2; With Team India winning the tournament. In 2016, Katariya was named the captain of the Indian women’s hockey team for the Test series against Australia. She led the Indian women’s hockey team in Melbourne. In 2016, she became part of the Indian women’s hockey team for the Rio Olympics.
Vandana Kataria during hockey match
In 2018, the Indian women’s hockey team won the silver medal at the Asian Champions Trophy; Vandana was made the best player of the tournament. The same year, he was named in the 16-man squad for the World Cup.
Vandana Kataria with the Indian women’s hockey team
In 2020, Vandana became the first Indian woman to score an Olympic hat-trick in hockey after qualifying for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The Olympics were postponed to 2021 due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Vandana Kataria with the Indian hockey team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics
On 31 October 2023, Vandana participated in the Women’s Asian Champions Trophy which was held in Ranchi, Jharkhand, India. By participating in the competition, she created history by appearing in 300 matches in international matches for the Indian national hockey team and became the first person to achieve this feat.
Vandana Kataria honored for representing Indian national hockey team in 300 international events
Controversy
In August 2021, after India lost to Argentina in the semi-finals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, two upper caste men (Vijaypal and Sumit Chauhan) abused Vandana’s family near Kataria’s house in Haridwar’s Roshnabad village. He reportedly said that the Indian team lost because it had “too many Dalit players”, referring to Vandana’s family members. The men also burst firecrackers near his house and danced in mock celebration. Later, a case was registered against both the accused with the local police under relevant sections of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act and section 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) of the Indian Penal Code. Police station on the complaint of Vandana’s brother.
Police has arrested an accused in Vandana case
medal
- Bronze (team) at the Junior World Cup in Mönchengladbach, 2013
- Bronze (team) at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon
- Gold at the Asia Cup in Gifu, 2014 (Team)
- Silver (Team) at the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta
- Bronze at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China in 2023
Vandana Kataria after winning bronze medal at the 2023 Asian Games
Signature
Vandana Kataria signing SNS ProTour hockey sticks for her fans
Favorite
- Food: Burgers, home cooked food
- Dessert: Chocolate Ice Cream
- Hockey players: Mohammad Shahid, Luciana Aymar
Facts/General Knowledge
- Whenever Vandana is free, she likes to spend time with her family.
- In an interview, when Vandana was asked about her favorite moment of her hockey career, she said,
This happened when we won the bronze medal in the World Cup in Germany. My father was called by the media and he had tears in his eyes. So, making my father proud is the best moment of my hockey career.
- In 2014, Vandana received Hockey India’s Player of the Year Award.
- Talking about Vandana during an interview, Indian women’s hockey team’s stop-gap coach Roelant Oltmans said,
According to my book, Vandana is one of the top forward players in world hockey. She is fast, can score, defend and is improving all the time.”
- As of 2021, Vandana has played more than 200 international hockey matches for the senior Indian national team.
- His current club (as of 2021) is Railways.
- Kataria has a tattoo on the back of her right hand.
Vandana Kataria’s tattoo
Categories: Biography
Source: vcmp.edu.vn