RANCHI: Indian women’s hockey team forward Lalremsiami is set to become the first sportsperson from Mizoram to receive the Arjuna Award, according to sources. The award is expected to be announced in the coming days.Popularly known as ‘Siami’, she made her senior debut in 2017 during a Test series against Belarus. Since then, she has played 177 international matches and scored 67 goals.
A major milestone in her career came at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, where India reached the semifinals under coach Sjoerd Marijne. Siami’s late father had wanted to see her play at the Olympics, but he died in 2019 when she was playing at the Hockey Series Finals in Hiroshima. She continued in the tournament and later went on to make history in Tokyo, becoming the first woman athlete from Mizoram to compete at the Games.She has also represented India at two Commonwealth Games, winning bronze in Birmingham. She has been part of the teams that won a silver and a bronze at the Asian Games and has competed in two World Cups. While she has been more than impressive playing for the senior team, her accolades as a junior player are also noteworthy. She won a silver at the 3rd Youth Olympic Games in 2018 and was awarded the FIH Rising Star of the year in 2019. However, none of this would have been possible had it not been for the likes of Miss Btei, who trained her at SAI Hockey Centre in Thenzawl, Mizoram. Later, she also trained at the National Hockey Academy in New Delhi.And these days whenever she isn’t playing or isn’t training in Bengaluru, she tries her best to give back to the community by training the kids in Mizoram. She is currently playing in the Women’s Hockey India League for the Shrachi Bengal Tigers and is aiming to lead the team to the top. However, her primary focus remains on the national stage, where her biggest goal is to help the Indian team win the qualifiers in March and secure a spot at the World Cup.
