While Savita and Co went on to win the Asian Champions Trophy, two Indian umpires felt joy from their Plan B | Hockey News

In Ranchi during the Asian Champions Trophy, thousands descended at the Astroturf Hockey Stadium to watch the Indian women’s hockey team. But even when Savita Punia and Co were not playing, they had a couple of other Indians to cheer for. In a few of the non-India matches, two umpires got a smattering of applause every time they walked out onto the field leading out the teams. For Rama Potnis and Yogita Pasi, two youngsters who grew up with dreams of playing hockey at the highest level, it felt like vindication.
Rama, a 29-year-old from Kohlapur in Maharashtra, started playing around 2006 when she was in class V. Yogita, a 27-year-old from Mumbai, began her hockey journey in 2005. Both of them, however, had to abandon hopes of scaling up the rungs as players because of injuries. Her passion for hockey, however, burned bright.
“I played at the state level but then I had to undergo a left knee ligament surgery. Before the injury I felt I was at the top,” Rama tells The Indian Express. “I tried playing with the injury too, but there came a moment when doctors told me it was about time I had surgery. I took a one-year break and coming back from that wasn’t possible.I didn’t know anything about officiating then, I was still hoping I would be able to play. But the pace and performance I had before, it wasn’t there anymore.”
“I started in Mumbai, and for around 10 years I played the sport,” Yogita says. “I played till 2016. Then I had an ankle injury which forced me to rest for 6 months and then I couldn’t come back to the level I was at. The financial side of the injury was difficult to deal with too.”
Rama’s officiating journey began in 2014. Hockey India had a program to have more umpires below 22. Manoj Bhore, general secretary of Hockey Maharashtra told Rama to give it a go. “In my very first tournament, I got an opportunity to do a final when I was just 20. I had dreams to become an international player but it was too late, but now I felt like could make a career out of this,” Rama says. Soon, she made her international debut in 2016 at the South Asian Games.
For Yogita, a workshop was the turning point. She went just as a player to understand the rules, then it was suggested to her an official that she could be an umpire if she felt she couldn’t go higher as a player. And earlier in 2023, she got her big break when she officiated at the Women’s Junior Asia Cup in Kakamigahara, Japan.
Rama, who works as an HR Manager, believes in learning watching. “Rules are the framework for us but the interpretation of the game is entirely different, so we have to study situations in microseconds. We work a lot of physical fitness, there is also yoga and meditation for our mental prep. But the most important thing is watching games from all the platforms we can, it helps us understand how the umpires deal with situations.”
For Yogita, who is also a Physical Education Teacher, being a player herself is a big advantage. “We need to understand team strategies too. Having played helps me understand intentions as well as handle emotions in the heat of the moment.”Most Read
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The dream for both of them is to make it to the Olympics. Yogita believes she will get to that level in 10 years while Rama wants to be on the l for LA 2028.
In the l of active umpires as per FIH, India currently have two men at the top level (Pro League) Raghu Prasad and Javed Shaikh, with no one at a level below in the International Elite l. There are two women and two men in the Advancement Panel. Finally, there are a total of six Indians (four men and two women) on the International Panel and Rama is one of them. For both Rama and Yogita, the likes of Raghu and Javed, and many other active officials in India act as role models. But in Ranchi, they got to experience a different feeling.
Rama says, “It’s special because people can look at us and know there is someone other than just players who are representing the country.” And Yogita adds, “We even got to hear our names being shouted from the crowd, I heard ‘come on Yogita!’ a few times. It felt really good, that as players we didn’t achieve but as an umpire, it’s happening now. Sometimes when things don’t happen as it was meant to, a backup plan can work out. Maybe we can be role models too one day.”