Rani Rampal, skipper of Indian women’s hockey team became the first hockey player in the world to bag the iconic ‘World Games Athlete of the Year’ Award. The World Games announced the winner after a 20-day voting process by sports lovers in every nook and corner of the cricket fraternity.
This award is given for sensational performance, social concern and good behaviour. Fans across the world nominate the winner through voting. She had received 1,99,477 votes out of a total of 7,05,610 votes.
An excerpt from the Facebook post of The World Games reads, “Huge congratulations to The World Games Athlete of the Year: Hockey star Rani! Rani won the race with a massive number of votes: 199,477!”
Currently, Rani Rampal is playing in New Zealand. After being conferred with the award, dedicated this award to the team and country. Rani Rampal will receive the World Games Athlete of the Year award from the official sponsor of The World Games.
Rani Rampal is a popular hockey player of India. She is labelled as the ‘queen’ of Indian hockey. In fact, she was the youngest player (15 years) of the Indian hockey team to take part in the 2010 World Cup tournament. Now, she is the skipper of the Indian women’s hockey team.
She played a crucial role in 2009’s Asia Cup to bagged a silver medal. She was also an integral part of the Indian team during the 2010’s Commonwealth Games and the 2010 Asian Games.
This year, Rani Rampal was awarded the prestigious Padma Shri award. The Indian women’s hockey team bagged the Asia Cup in 2017 in her captaincy.