Suraj Lata Devi is the captain of Indian Women hockey team. Who would have imagined that in her first assignment as a skipper, the workhorse of Indian team Suraj Lata Devi would fetch gold medal for India.
She belongs to a sporting family but her father is an accountant in the Manipur government. She got her breakthrough when she was selected to join the S.A.I, hostel in Impale. Slowly and steadily, by dint of her hard labour, she made entry into the national camp as a centre-forward player. But, very soon, she showed equal potential in the mid-field.
Suraj Lata Devi is highly respected by her team members not only as a captain but also for her fantastic play. She can cover a lot of ground in the defences and is a clean tackier.
She is employed with the Western Railways in Mumbai. She accepts that the recent excellent performances are a result of hard work done by the players for last 10 years. She says, “I am happy that acknowledgement is finally coming to us.”