At the young age of 22, hockey player Beauty Dungdung is carrying the responsibility of her family and her professional career. The forward is currently training with the Indian Women’s Hockey Team in their national camp in Bengaluru. In a recent press release, Beauty shared her past injury experience that she suffered in 2023 to Hockey India. But it was not her physical pain that left her under a heartbreaking phase and away from the sport.
Beauty reveals that she took two years before making a comeback. During her rehabilitation journey for her recovery process, she had lost her father.
“It took me about two years to make a comeback. My father passed away during my injury period. I was going back and forth between home and the camp, and so much was happening at once. There were times when I really doubted if a comeback would even happen,” she shared.
For Beauty her father was her biggest supporter and losing him was a personal loss that she could recover quite well and early. Back when she was young, her father gave her a bamboo carved hockey stick for her to practice as they could not afford the real one. To meet the needs, his father worked as a daily wage labourer while travelling across other states to support her daughter’s hockey dream.
Today she takes her family’s responsibility through her job at Indian Oil. She looks after her mother who is struggling with paralysis, her brother’s family and the education of her young niece and nephews.
Talking about the struggles of looking after her family she shared, “It gets stressful sometimes because Mummy is partially paralysed, and her memory is fading. She forgets things easily,” Beauty admits. “I explain things to her again and again, but she still asks me, ‘When will you come home?’ My mind naturally goes to her when I am away.”
Having found her financial backend to support her family, Beauty found her way back to Hockey. She made her comeback through the Asian Champions Trophy and the recently concluded Hero Hockey India League. As she has joined the national camp in Bengaluru, the team is aiming for the FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 Qualifiers in Hyderabad, Telangana.
Beauty’s story carries the hope and resilience that she faced while facing the struggles at her young age. She is playing not just for herself but for her family’s future, and the memory of her father’s support for her dream.
