Gumla: When 18-year-old Parwati Topno returned from China with a Junior Asia Cup hockey gold medal, celebration gave way to heartbreak. At Kumhartoli village in Kamdara block of Gumla, the India junior women’s team player found her family’s clay house damaged by recent heavy rain.The verandah leaks when it rains. The toilet, built years ago, is in a dilapidated condition. Drinking water comes mostly from a village hand pump, as the household connection is irregular and inadequate. Her father, Soma Topno, a mason and sharecropper, has not received any benefit under a housing scheme.Parwati was part of the Indian women’s team that won gold in Moqi this month, defeating hosts China 1-0 in the final. But back home, the medal-winning defender’s family continues to live with cracked walls, leaking shelter and uncertain work.“On returning home, I felt upset seeing my house damaged on account of rain. We have not been allotted any housing scheme so far, while we draw drinking water from the village hand pump. Water supply through the house connection is not regular and sufficient. The toilet built years ago is in a wretched state. My father doesn’t get regular masonry work and works in farmland of others as a sharecropper,” Parwati said.Her elder brother works as a migrant labourer in Karnataka, while her sister stitches clothes in a garment factory in Tamil Nadu.Parwati’s journey began at the day-boarding hockey centre at Glosap Memorial School, Kamdara. In 2018, she cleared a trial and joined the Govt Girls’ School Residential Training Centre, Bariatu in Ranchi. She later played in the Nehru Junior Girls’ Hockey Tournament in Delhi and the Sub-Junior Women’s National Championship in Simdega.After Class 12, she was selected for the Centre of Excellence, Morabadi. She played the Khelo India Youth Games in Chennai and the Junior Women’s National Hockey Tournament in Ranchi in 2024.“In 2025, I was chosen for Khelo India Scholarship and Junior India camp. The same year, I made my international debut in practice matches in Argentina and Germany. In 2025 itself, I was made part of the national team for the Junior World Cup,” Parwati recalled.
