Junior Men’s hockey forward Boby recollects how father’s tragic accident shaped his career

Boby Singh Dhami says “Everything happens for a reason’ on his road to Junior Asia Cup 2023

Hockey happened to Boby Singh Dhami by "accident", for which he wouldn't have been a junior India player had it not been for a road mishap involving his father when he was just 10 years old.

Years later, having faced the trials and tribulations that followed the accident which killed four passengers but turned out to be a close shave for his then driver father Shyam Singh Dhami.

Boby has helped India win the Junior Asia Cup 2023.

He feels the triumph has not only set him up for bigger things in his career but it has also revitalised his belief in the phrase, “Everything happens for a reason”. On his journey to earning a place in the Indian team, the challenges he faced were many, including being slapped with lawsuits by families of the deceased.

The tragic incident forced his mother to send him to live with his maternal uncle in Tanakpur as the family was finding it difficult to make ends meet.

It was in Tanakpur that Boby developed a liking for the game while accompanying his maternal uncle Prakash, a former national-level player-turned-coach, to the ground every day. "When my family was in difficulties after my father's accident, we were left with no money. My parents could not even afford my education and my mother decided to send me away to my uncle's home," Boby recollected.

"As a child, it was obviously difficult to deal with that situation but looking back now, I realise, if that accident had never happened then I would have probably never played hockey.