An Olympian’s eye, father’s advice: How Bichu Devi went from a reluctant goalkeeper to Savita Punia’s successor

Bichu Devi was in sharp form during a training session at the SAI centre in Bengaluru.

“You want a break, Bichu?” asked Dave Smolenaars, the Indian women’s hockey team’s analytical coach.

“No, coach,” the goalkeeper replied.

Watching from the dugout was Savita Punia, India’s mainstay in goal for almost two decades, her foot in a boot due to an ankle injury. The former captain sustained it during the FIH Pro League and is likely to miss the upcoming Asia Cup in China.

In the senior’s absence, Bichu will have to step up and take on the mantle of guarding the goal — and, as it turns out, Savita had already prepared her for it.

“The day she got her reports and found out she was unlikely to play the Asia Cup, she sat me down and told me — ‘Your time is coming and you can’t do anything about it.’ She told me to play with a free mind and not to take pressure. I train now with that mindset. Even if I feel pressure when I go there [Asia Cup], I’ll just call her for advice,” the 24-year-old from Manipur’s Thoubal told  Sportstar.

Many think it’s a fight for the spot in the team between the 35-year-old Savita and Bichu. But according to the latter, it’s nothing but love and a sense of sisterhood.

“Whatever I say about her will not be enough. If I concede a goal or get demoralised after a bad performance, Savita  di has the experience to guide me through all scenarios because she has gone through them herself. Even when Rajani [Etimarpu]  di was there, both of the seniors have helped me through my bad times.”

While Bichu may feel the heat when she plays in the Asia Cup, where a World Cup spot is at stake, Paramjit Singh — her coach at the Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy — feels that giving the youngster responsibility will only improve her performance.

“When she’s given the responsibility of being the main goalkeeper, she thrives. She has assisted Savita in the past and played under her. Bichu now has the experience. If she goes to the Asia Cup as the main goalie, her confidence will go up a notch,” the 62-year-old said.

Bichu might be a livewire now on the hockey turf, but picking up the stick was never part of her plans.

An Olympian’s eye

In Manipur, football is part of the state’s fabric. Naturally, a young Bichu fell in love with kicking the ball around.

“I have always loved playing football and used to play with the boys. I had short hair then and people couldn’t tell whether I was a girl, so I blended right in. The boys would discourage me from playing, saying, ‘You’re a girl, you’ll get hurt,’ but I didn’t pay heed. So I continued playing.”

In 2012, she went to give trials at the SAI centre in Imphal for the football team. Unfortunately, she was late and all the spots had been filled. Her father, Romen Singh, pleaded with the SAI director, who happened to be from the same village. As a solution, the director suggested hockey to Bichu.

“Hockey players were very few at SAI, and in Manipur. The director said I should give trials for hockey, stay at SAI for a few months, and then shift to football if a vacancy opened up. I didn’t have any idea about hockey. I didn’t even know how to hold the stick, but I passed all the physical tests and got into the team,” Bichu recalled.

However, she continued playing football. “I wouldn’t even look in the direction of hockey,” she remembered. “After a couple of months, my father came to speak to the director regarding shifting back to football, but he refused. My name was nationally registered as a hockey player and the director said I couldn’t play football. I cried a lot.”

Romen then asked his daughter to give hockey a shot. Age was on her side, he argued. If she still didn’t like it, he would help her return to football or take up any other sport she preferred.

Gradually, she grew an affinity for hockey. A striker in those days (in football too she was a forward), Bichu loved to leap about and hit the ball goalwards. But there was another twist on the way.

“Manipur’s first Olympian, Nilakomol [Singh] sir, came to SAI to train us for six months. He watched me in training and said, ‘Make her a goalkeeper. Her height and footwork are good; she’ll play for India soon.’”

This began another cycle of Bichu not liking what she was doing, and her father encouraging her to give it a go

.“I remember once I was playing at the Sub-Junior Nationals in Ranchi and it was a match against Patiala. Although we lost 0-1, I played really well. I don’t even know how. Napolean [Singh] sir, a coach from Manipur, referred me to the Madhya Pradesh Hockey Academy. That’s when I left Manipur for MP in 2015.”

After moving to central India, Bichu had to wait for around four to six months to be officially inducted into the academy and receive her own kit. In the meantime, she stuck to physical training or borrowed a senior’s kit whenever they were sidelined by injury.

It was only when Bichu was inducted and got her own kit that she believes her journey towards making the Indian team actually began.

“Whatever happens, happens for a reason. If I hadn’t played hockey, I wouldn’t be here. I also want to thank my father who made me understand, and perhaps saw something in me,” she said.

Righting the wrongs

Bichu made 10 appearances in the FIH Pro League 2024–25 season, including two starts, at the end of which India faced the ignominy of being relegated to the FIH Nations Cup. The team conceded the third-highest number of goals (43) in the campaign among nine teams.

“We are mainly focusing on defending penalty corners because that’s where we leaked goals. We end up spending about an hour of training on this,” she said of how the team is working on its mistakes at the SAI camp in Bengaluru.

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The absence of seasoned defenders and midfielders like Udita and Nikki Pradhan also contributed to the team’s porous backline, Bichu admitted.

“We had newer, inexperienced defenders. The connection with them was lacking, especially during penalty corners. The positioning went amiss, which would affect my stance as well. It’s not completely their fault. In training, we are trying to improve on how to manage and position ourselves during PCs.”

On the other hand, Paramjit believes his ward needs to improve her diving.

“She’s a specialist in covering tight angles. All the narrow shots that come her way, she can keep them out. When it comes to diving, she can improve her left side.”

“We are disappointed [with the Pro League] but we need to forget and move on. If we win the Asia Cup, we qualify for the World Cup. And medalling at the World Cup will do our confidence a world of good,” Bichu said, sounding hopeful.

The keeper won’t feel like she’s being thrown in at the deep end when playing Asian sides. At last year’s Asian Champions Trophy, she featured in all seven matches of India’s unbeaten campaign.

From clinching silver at the 2018 Youth Olympics and winning the Asian Games bronze medal to lifting back-to-back Asian Champions Trophy titles, Bichu will now aim to step out of Savita’s shadow and add the Asia Cup to her trophy cabinet.