Never got the respect I thought I deserved: Junior hockey star Mumtaz Khan

Mumtaz Khan has come home to a rapturous welcome after stealing all the headlines with her eight goals at the recent Junior Hockey World Cup, but her sadness remains.

When she slid in on her knees to get a diving touch to complete her hat-trick in the World Cup match against Malaysia, she had a moment of deja vu. At the 2018 Youth Olympics, where too she had been the Indian team's top scorer, she had slid in to score a similar goal in the semifinal against China. Both these goals remain her two favourites, but neither have brought her the 'respect' she thinks she deserves.

"Things went to plan at the World Cup, except for those last two minutes when the tiniest errors snatched away the medal from our hands," Mumtaz told The Bridge.

"The final goal against Malaysia gave me a lot of personal satisfaction, the two against England in the bronze match will also be special to me," she said.

Back home, Mumtaz's five sisters were tracking India's campaign on a small mobile phone screen, but her parents missed all of her eight goals as it was peak hour in Lucknow's Topkhana Bazar when the matches were being played in South Africa.

It was business as usual for the vegetable vendor couple Qaiser Jahan and Hafiz Khan when Mumtaz had the world at her feet - making a daily profit of Rs 300 from their cart. The first inkling they got that their daughter was doing something heroic was when local reporters descended in droves on their humble workspace ahead of the semis last week.

Earlier, Mumtaz's parents had to face many questions for 'allowing' their daughter to play. But after her newfound star status at the junior level, those same people now come up to tell them Mumtaz is their pride too.

"There were many people who said I wouldn't achieve anything, girls shouldn't be given so much freedom. But now they are telling my mother she did well to let me play sports and that they wish they had someone like me in their family," Mumtaz said.

'World is watching me now'

But some things don't change. The reception for her at the Amausi Airport might have taken her by surprise, but she returned to the same house she had come back to from the Youth Olympics with a silver medal dangling round her neck - a one-room house in Lucknow where eight people stay cramped together.

In 2018, Mumtaz's name had been sent to the Uttar Pradesh government for a house to be built for her family. She had even met the UP Chief Minister to speak on the matter. But that wait continues.

"I had seen huge dreams for our family when I had returned with the Youth Olympics silver. But the respect I thought I would get didn't come then. It still hasn't come, but the world is watching me play now - perhaps tomorrow will bring what today does not hold," Mumtaz said.

That dream of a bigger house where her parents can watch her matches on television still eludes her, but even as help from the government has not yet materialised, several local NGOs have pitched in to support the family. Perhaps it was this simple yet elusive dream which gave Mumtaz the courage to dive in at the feet of the Malaysian keeper in the World Cup. And at the feet of the South Korean goalie in the Youth Olympics four years ago.

'Junoon' is a quality already associated with the 19-year-old's career. And not just for the bravery of her goals. She received her first call-up to the junior team in 2017 after she insisted on playing despite a heavily stitched face during a national camp in Chattisgarh.

"I used to think of myself as the family's son," she offered in explanation of her 'junoon'. The youngster with fire in her eyes and a bagful of goals to offer will always have her 'junoon' by her side, no matter who else comes to stand by her family.