The Chak De girls of Mandsaur, MP were covered by Karishma Kotwal from Times Of India. You can read the article here.

14-year-old Sagu Dawar lives in a shanty. But when this girl gets a hockey stick in her hands, her stickwork and defence on the Mandsaur playground will take your breath away. On the playground, Sagu transforms into a national hockey player for the state's school team.

The small town of Mandsaur is home to Hockey achievers like Priyanka Chandrawat and Neelu Dadiya to young enthusiasts like Sangeeta Bhabhor, Kirti Borasi, Astha Borasi and Sagu Dawar, who recently won accolades for Madhya Pradesh.

Poverty, lack of equipment and specialised support staff, bad pitches are some of the challenges budding national players from Mandsaur face. Some of the players are even the breadwinners for their families. Kirti, 16, and Astha, 13, have their shelves full of trophies and medals but have to run a garage to make two ends meet.

"As we do not have the proper training and exercise equipment, I make the students exercise with techniques without using the equipment. Though they are from a humble background, they are able to perform better," says Coach Avinash Upadhyay. Mr Updhyay is a former national hockey player who has been training girls for the past 15 years and is currently training 60 girls and 110 boys from different economical backgrounds.


To provide proper training to his students in Mandasaur, Coach Upadhyay requires following equipment: