Pucking awesome

High up among the jagged mountains of Ladakh, India's first-ever women's ice hockey team is pulling out all the stops to whack the puck and the patriarchy. Come rain, shine, heavy snow-or even its complete absence-these players won't put down their sticks.

- SHARDA UGRA

How does India calculate the coolness quotient of its athletes? In medals, records, and marketability, sure, but let’s not forget it is men who dominate this territory, where coolness swirls around beards, tattoos and designer sunnies.

If you’ve never thought of women in the same vein, it’s time to meet a bunch who toy the coolness quotient in both attitude and altitude. They live, work and play at around 11,000 feet above sea level, running and sliding in sub-zero temperatures, breathing air with much less oxygen—conditions that are daunting for most elite athletes.

These are Ladakh’s women ice hockey players, a rare tribe in more ways than one. They formed India's first-ever women’s ice hockey team less than ten years ago. (Note: ice hockey has been played in Ladakh by men since the 1960s.) They did this by laying out the ice rinks they would train and play on with their own hands, building their community, one season at a time and ensuring that their sport keeps spreading. While most other athletes talk about giving back to their sport at the end of their careers, the Ladakhi women ice hockey players see the big picture even while competing because they remember where they came from and where they want women's ice hockey to go.

The dream, Rinchen Dolma says, is, “Olympic qualification”. She was India’s first women’s captain in 2016 and still plays competitively. She returned to the rink this season scoring goals five months after giving birth to her daughter. Current captain Tsewang Chuskit, scorer of a hat-trick in India’s first international victory over the Philippines in 2017 at the Asia Challenge Cup, wants to inspire future generations.