Orpita aims to lay women’s hockey’s foundation in Bangladesh

Midfielder Orpita Pal played a vital role in Bangladesh's surprising runners-up finish in the just-concluded Women's Junior AHF Cup, scoring 10 of Bangladesh's 31 goals in six matches, during which she bagged three Player of the Match awards. Orpita, who orchestrated the build-up play and fed the scorers when required, also ended up becoming the joint second top-scorer along with eventual champions Chinese Taipei's Lai Ya-Han. The 11th-grade BKSP student spoke to Anisur Rahman of The Daily Star after the team's arrival from Singapore yesterday. Following are the excerpts of the conversation:

The Daily Star (DS): Your feelings after achieving a surprising result.

Orpita Pal (OP): We were given a big reception on our arrival at the airport, which we really did not expect to get. Of course, it has been a good feeling to achieve something more than what we expected.

DS: Despite hardly any international experience, how did it all materialise?

OP: Of the 18-member squad, 15 players are from BKSP where we have been training together by availing all facilities since 2020, so there has been a good bonding and understanding among the players. Besides, we also played under the same coach [Zahid Hossain Raju] who trained us at BKSP, so we were able to show our strength in Singapore. The coaching staff also provided a lot of mental support.

DS: Why did you choose hockey, which has almost no future in the country?

OP: Usually, I played athletics, handball, kabaddi, and basketball at the school level where I also succeeded in athletics, but I grew interested in playing hockey when hockey was being trained at our school – Dinajpur Jubilee High School. Then I got admitted to grade seven at BKSP in 2020. [About hockey's future in Bangladesh] Yes, there is hardly any future in women's hockey in Bangladesh, but we want to lay a foundation of women's hockey from where others will step in to develop it.

DS: Your playing experience before getting admitted to BKSP?

OP: Before getting admitted to BKSP, I had been selected for the national women's U-21 hockey team, ahead of the Women's Junior AHF Cup in 2019, and I started in the best eleven in three matches out of five we played against Kazakhstan and played two matches from the bench.

DS: What do you expect from the federation ahead of the Women's Junior Asia Cup?

OP: We want the federation to take the initiative to have a long-term training camp and arrange warm-up matches abroad so that we can hone our skills more in a bid to produce good results against the strong teams in the Women's Junior Asia Cup. Besides, we also want the federation to introduce competitions for women, so that the girls can grow their interest in playing hockey in the future.