Suman intends to make most of her second wind

Suman Devi Thoudam's eyes teared up as the Indian women's hockey team's flight to Amsterdam took off from Bengaluru last week.

- Sandip Sikdar

NEW DELHI: The 25-year-old was recalling the difficult period when her father, a carpenter, had to borrow money to buy an air ticket to send Suman from Imphal to Bengaluru for the national camp nine years ago.

Having made her India debut in March 2017, the defender was a regular in the Indian team, playing multiple Test series as well as the 2018 Asian Champions Trophy—India returned with silver—before she was dropped from the team.

Suman managed to stay in the core group, and thereby the national camp, but it took her four years to get picked again in the Indian team, but then too she played only one game—against the Netherlands—in the FIH Pro League in April 2022 before she was altogether dropped not just from the team but from the camp too. Back then, the fullback felt that her efforts had all gone down the drain.