Salima Tete, appointed as the Indian women’s hockey team captain last year following the team’s failed attempt to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics, is among the 32 Arjuna Awardees who will be honored later this month.
Having made her national team debut back in 2016, Tete has played 115 matches over the last nine years and established herself as one of the mainstays of the Indian women’s team. She was also a part of the Indian team that earned a historic fourth-place finish at the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics in Japan.
Early days
Tete was born into a family of farmers in the remote Simdega district of Jharkhand in late 2001. She is the second youngest of six siblings in her family.
She was first introduced to hockey when her father, Sulakshan, registered her name for a village tournament back in 2010. A young Tete started out as a defender and impressed everyone with her skills, including the president of the Simdega Hockey Association, Manoj Kondegi.
She would hold her fort against much older players and trouble them with her speed. Kondegi requested the Tete family to enroll their daughter in the Jharkhand Government’s Girls’ Academy in Simdega.
The family, however, did not agree, and it was only three years later, in 2013, that Tete began receiving professional training in the sport.
Even as the family struggled financially, Tete’s father would ferry her across villages on his bicycle to play in tournaments. Tete would repay him with match-winning performances, often winning prizes like chickens or goats for her exploits.
Rise through the ranks
Once Tete settled into the system, she had a rapid rise through the ranks. She continued playing as a defender for most of her career and was part of the Indian women’s team that won a silver medal at the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
With the Indian team in desperate need of an attacking midfielder, former India coach Sjoerd Marijne slotted Tete into midfield, leveraging her pace.
Right from the start, Tete was lightning-fast on the field – a trait she still carries. This very trait earned her the moniker “Ferrari” from Marijne, who guided India to the fourth-place finish at the Tokyo Games.
She played the Tokyo Games as a midfielder and has since worked to upskill her game to better suit the team. She consciously developed her left-foot play to excel in her preferred position on the right flank.
Having won medals at the 2022 Asian Games and the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Tete has grown in confidence as a player.
Tete now leads the Indian midfield and was named captain of the Indian women’s team in May 2024. The Arjuna Award this year is just a small milestone in her remarkable rise to the top.
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