Bengaluru, February 26, 2026: At just 22 years old, Beauty Dungdung carries a huge responsibility on her shoulders. Currently, the young forward is sweating it out at the Indian Women’s Hockey Team’s national camp in Bengaluru. But simply returning to the field has been the hardest fight of her life.
“It took me about two years to make a comeback,” says Beauty, looking back on the serious knee injury she suffered in 2023. For months she was stuck in rehab, wondering if she would ever play for India again. But the physical pain was nothing compared to the heartbreak she faced off the field. In the midst of her painful recovery, she lost her father.
“My father passed away during my injury period. I was traveling back and forth between home and camp, and so much was happening at once,” she says. “There were moments when I really doubted whether there would even be a comeback.”
Her father was her biggest hero and supporter. Growing up in a small village in Jharkhand, money was always tight. When she was just five years old, her father cut her very first hockey stick out of bamboo because they couldn’t afford a real one. Later, he even traveled to other states to work as a daily wage laborer just to help finance her sporting dreams.
“When Dad was here, I had a lot of support,” Beauty says calmly. “Now I have to do everything myself.”
Today, beauty is the mainstay of her family. Thanks to her job at Indian Oil, she takes care of her household. She helps support her brother’s family and finances the education of her young niece and nephews. Most heartbreakingly, she cares for her mother, who is partially paralyzed and struggles with memory loss.
“It gets stressful sometimes because mom is partially paralyzed and her memory is fading. She forgets things easily,” Beauty admits. “I keep explaining things to her, but she still asks me, ‘When are you coming home?’ My thoughts naturally go to her when I’m away.”
Balancing the intense pressure of international hockey with the emotional grief at home is not easy. But Beauty refuses to give up.
“If I think too much, I get into trouble, so I put all my focus on the game. It feels good to be able to help my family financially. I just try to manage it from both sides,” she explains.
When the grief becomes too much, she leans on her hockey family. “I have friends in the team, so I share my feelings with them. Even before a match, if I feel down, I tell them honestly that my mood today is not great, so please motivate me. The team really helps.”
Beauty has slowly found her rhythm again. She returned to the field to play in the Asian Champions Trophy and the recent Hero Hockey India League. Now she is back in the national camp and working hard for the crucial FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 qualifiers in Hyderabad, Telangana. Known for her running and receiving skills, she is trying to rebuild her confidence within the striking circle.
Beauty Dungdung is no longer just a young girl playing for fun. Every time she holds her hockey stick, she is playing for her mother’s care, her family’s future and the memory of the father who made her very first stick out of bamboo.