Meet Gurjit Kaur: 14 Things About The Hockey Player Whose Winning Goal Created History

Gurjit Kaur: A remarkable goal by Gurjit Kaur in the second quarter of the match earned the Indian women's hockey team a spot in the semi-finals of Tokyo Olympic Games. It is a historic 1-0 win over Australia in the quarterfinals today.

After India beat the World Number 2 side on Monday, Kaur said, "I'm really happy. This is the result of all our hard work. Every player has worked day and night for this day, can't tell you how happy I am."

So here's everything you need to know about this power player.

Who is Gurjit Kaur?

1. Gurjit Kaur is a field hockey player from India. She plays at the position of a defender in the team.
2. Kaur is also designated as the drag flicker of the Indian Women's Hockey Team.
3. Born into a farming family, Kaur hails from the Miadi Kalan village in Amritsar, Punjab.
4. Kaur's parents Satnam Singh and Harjinder Kaur were hell-bent that their daughters receive a good education.
5. To provide them with quality education, they decided to send them to a private school over 13 km away in Ajnala, instead of the local government school in the village. Kaur's father would take both the daughters on his cycle to the school and wait until their school got over to ferry them back every day.
6. In 2006 her parents finally took the decision of sending them to a boarding school in Kairon which was over 70 km away. Kairon is famous for women's hockey in India, and this is basically where the Kaur discovered her passion for hockey.
7. Their prowess in the sport helped the two sisters earn a place in the government wing of the school, thus ensuring free education and food, which came as a respite for the cash-crunched parents. Kaur studied in Kairon until 2011.
8. Following which Kaur moved to Jalandhar's Lyallpur Khalsa College for Women where she pursued her higher education along with her training and developed an interest in drag-flicking.
9. After this, Kaur got placed in the Indian Railways as a junior clerk in Allahabad through sports quota.
10. She has represented India internationally in many matches, most recently at the Tokyo Olympics 2020.
11. Gurjit Kaur came into the spotlight at the 2017 Asia Cup, in which the Indian Women's Hockey team were the continental champions and consequently also earned a spot at the 2018 Hockey World Cup to be held in London.
12. Kaur emerged as the most successful goal-scorer of the Indian team in the 2018 Hockey World Cup with 8 goals. She ended the tournament as the third-highest goal scorer, in which the Indian team again emerged victorious as the continental champions.
13. In the lead-up to the tournament, the Indian team played a series of five matches against Spain's national team during their Spain Tour, which they won with a huge lead of 4–1. In the finals, Kaur netted two goals alongside skipper Rani Rampal who also scored a double, bringing the final score to 4–1 for the ultimate victory.
14. Kaur also showcased an impressive performance at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, which was held in Australia. Although India could not secure a podium finish, Kaur drew attention after her two penalty corner conversion goals against Malaysia in its second pool A match during the series, helping India score a massive 4–1 win.