The Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023 is starting from 13 January. India is being considered as the title contender in this tournament. The Indian team has a chance to become champions on their own soil. The Indian team has not been able to win the Hockey World Cup for 46 years. If the Indian team is successful in winning the title, then those players will have an important contribution in this team, whose life has passed in darkness for a long time.
Actually, we are talking about Nilam Sanjeep Xess, who is part of the team and hails from Odisha. Whose childhood is not spent on the playground, but in the fields. Even till five years back his life was in darkness as there was no electricity in his village. Not only this, his family did not even have enough money to buy even a lantern.
24-year-old defender Neelam Khes, who hails from Kadobahal village in Rourkela, will make her World Cup debut on January 13 against Spain. Neelam Khes will have a huge responsibility on her shoulders as the match will be held at her home ground. This match will be played at Birsa Munda Stadium, Rourkela. According to media reports, Khes started playing hockey in a field which did not even have grass.
According to the news of the Indian Express, the ground where Neelam Khes started playing hockey, there is a torn net on both the goalposts, there is a road next to it and two bamboo poles have also been installed to prevent the ball from passing by. went. He started playing on this ground from the age of just 7 years. He used to play with his brother during school breaks.
Neelam Khes says, “I used to play hockey with my brother during school breaks and after coming home, I would help my parents in the potato and cauliflower fields. In the evening, the villagers would meet to play hockey, I used to play with them.” Although he used to play hockey as a child to pass the time, which later became his hobby, Khes said he became a defender because others preferred to play as a forward and score goals.