Grit, Guavas, 'Chak De' Songs: Meet 'The Wall' Of Indian Women's Hockey

Savita Punia's saves helped India beat Australia at the Tokyo Olympics to enter the semi-finals on Monday.

Driving out around five hours north-west of Delhi, when the landscape sheds all pretence of the urbane and starts resembling something straight out of the movie Dangal or Sultan, is the home of one of India's newest sports stars. Christened 'The Wall' for her stellar role as goalkeeper in the national women's hockey team, 31-year-old Savita Punia's saves helped India beat Australia at the Tokyo Olympics to enter the semi-finals on Monday. NDTV was at her home in Haryana's Jodkhan town when India was playing against Argentina on Wednesday. The star champion's proud parents recalled her journey with the hockey stick and said it is important to encourage girls into sports. Her father Mahender Punia, a pharmacist, told NDTV, "We live in a village that doesn't have facilities for sports. Savita has seen her share of struggles and has overcome them because she made it a goal and said 'I will do it'."