Mother pushes vegetable cart on Lucknow avenue, daughter Mumtaz stars in Junior hockey World Cup

ALONG A slim, bustling avenue at Topkhana Bazar in Lucknow, Qaiser Jahan stood beneath the summer time solar along with her vegetable cart, tending to a rush of consumers earlier than Friday prayers. Around the identical time, at a college floor in Potchefstroom in South Africa, her daughter Mumtaz slid in from the appropriate of the goalpost on one knee, flung her hockey stick ahead and deflected the ball previous South Korea’s goalkeeper.

The brave purpose set the tone for India’s 3-0 win over South Korea within the quarterfinals of the Junior World Cup, ensuring the staff reached the last-four stage of the competitors for under the second time in historical past.

Qaiser Jahan, nevertheless, couldn’t watch her 19-year-old daughter’s heroics, which earned the Player of the Match award. “That was a busy hour for me,” she mentioned, chatting with The Indian Express over telephone. “I would have loved to watch her score the goal, but I’ve got to earn a living as well. I am sure there will be more chances to see her in the future.”

The mom’s confidence isn’t misplaced. It’s all the time tough to learn an excessive amount of into junior-level performances however Mumtaz, along with her velocity and poaching skill, has stood out in a staff brimming with expertise. She has made an enormous contribution in each match of India’s triumphant marketing campaign up to now, recording 4 wins in 4 matches.

Hockey Player Mumtaz’s mom Qaiser Jahan and Father Hafiz Khan are vegetable distributors at Topkhana Bazar in Lucknow. (Express photograph by Vishal Srivastav)

With six targets up to now, Mumtaz is the event’s third-highest goal-scorer. She was on the score-sheet in India’s opening match in opposition to Wales, scored the profitable purpose in opposition to pre-tournament favourites Germany, and whipped up a sensational hat-trick in opposition to Malaysia.

On Friday, whereas her mom was out working, Mumtaz’s 5 sisters have been monitoring the match on a cellular display screen at their residence in Lucknow and her father Hafiz was on the mosque.

“It’s tough to describe how we feel today. There were days when we had absolutely nothing…when some people taunted my parents for allowing a girl to play a sport,” Mumtaz’s elder sister Farah mentioned. Qaiser Jahan added: “We ignored those comments but today, it feels like Mumtaz has given a befitting reply to all of them.”

Hockey occurred by accident to Mumtaz. Around 2013, she travelled along with her college athletics staff for a contest in Agra the place she topped the sprints, prompting a neighborhood coach to recommend that she attempt hockey.

“She had the speed and energy that we felt would come in handy in hockey,” Neelam Siddiqui, one among Mumtaz’s childhood coaches, mentioned. “We felt if she could grasp hockey skills well, she would turn into a very nice player.”

Mumtaz Khan is our Player of the Match for her tenacity on the ahead place and contribution to India’s purpose.#IndiaKaGame #HockeyIndia #FIHWorldCup #RisingStars #JWC2021 #hockeyinvites @CMO_Odisha @sports_odisha @IndiaSports activities @Media_SAI pic.twitter.com/P9CmP7RQnl

— Hockey India (@TheHockeyIndia) April 8, 2022

Siddiqui coaches at Lucknow’s well-known KD Singh Babu Stadium’s academy, the place Mumtaz landed a couple of months after that event in Agra. She impressed throughout her choice trials and was chosen for a scholarship programme by way of which she bought admitted to the sports activities hostel.

“Mumtaz was barely 13 years old and had only played for her school team a few times until then. We put her in a match with some senior players to see how she reacts. She was pretty fearless and made a couple of very nice dodges,” Siddiqui mentioned. “We selected her for the hostel and from that moment, she began dreaming of playing for India.”

But as Mumtaz began to chase that dream, her household again residence was each excited and anxious. “Before Mumtaz was born, our father used to ply cycle-rickshaws,” Farah mentioned. “My maternal uncle noticed he was getting old and frail for the job, and that too for very little reward, so he helped us set up a vegetable cart, which my mother runs even today.”

The revenue from the cart was barely sufficient to pay for each day bills and faculty charges of the six women. “The family couldn’t even afford to purchase a hockey kit,” Mumtaz’s youthful sister Shirin mentioned. “Thankfully, her coaches helped her.”

Siddiqui says she didn’t need to work additional laborious to shine Mumtaz’s expertise. “Some things came naturally to her, like positioning inside the ‘D’ or knowing when to accelerate. Scoring goals is a by-product of these things,” she mentioned.

This “game intelligence” noticed Mumtaz break into the junior nationwide staff set-up in 2017. The following yr, she was one of many 9 to win a silver medal on the Youth Olympics, the place a five-a-side model of the game was performed. “When she won that medal, it felt like Eid came early for us,” Farah, the elder sister, mentioned. “It’s the same feeling this time as well.”

On Sunday, when India face the mighty Netherlands within the semifinals, all eyes will probably be on Mumtaz to see if she will ship but once more — besides in fact for her mom, who says she will probably be again on the market with the vegetable cart.