From playing with bamboo stick to Arjuna award

GROWING up, when Salima Tete fashioned hockey sticks out of bamboo to practice with, she would have hardly guessed that one day she would lead the Indian women's hockey team.

- Mukesh Ranjan @ Ranchi

Today, Salima Tete becomes the first woman hockey player from Jharkhand to be conferred with the Arjuna Award.

President Draupadi Murmu conferred the prestigious award to Salima, the captain of the Indian women's hockey team, during the National Sports Awards ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan on Friday.

Earlier in 1972, Olympian late Michael Kindo was awarded the Arjuna Award, while Silvanus Dungdung and Sumrai Tete have been awarded the Major Dhyan Chand Award.

Battling poverty since childhood, Salima Tete has built her exceptional hockey career, a leading athlete in her field.

Salima hails from Barkichapar village in Simdega, among the districts worst-affected by left-wing extremism, with 45 households and without a TV set.