A player as well as an umpire? The combination would raise more than a few eyebrows. But Rajan Ekka, hockey wunderkind, has seldom been deterred by what people say.
As a class III student at Mission Primary School in Sonamara village of Odisha, Ekka dribbled the puck with a makeshift stick. The Oraon tribal boy trained through the years to make his debut as a right half in the Jawaharlal Nehru Sub-junior Hockey Tournament, 2004, in New Delhi. Fast and furious, Ekka played over 13 tourneys across the country over the next nine years.
Rajan Ekka is Odisha’s first tribal to stand as an umpire in matches at over 35 national championships
Then, at the peak of his game, Ekka expressed his preference for umpiring. He greeted with disbelief, doubt, and even derision.
The Indian Tribal Sports In Odisha meet Debashish Gauda, secretary of Hockey Gangpur coaching center in Bhubaneswar, backed the 21-year-old umpire wannabe. He, however, poohpoohs his contribution to Ekka’s accomplishment. “Umpire Rajan’s talent earned him accolades,” he asserts. “I only did the paperwork for his name placed before Hockey India.”
Ekka passed Hockey Odisha’s examination for prospective umpires. In 2014, his performance lent credence to his umpiring mettle in the Nalco Hockey Cup.
Two years later, this player-umpire got his first break at the national level during the All India Inter-school Under-17 Boys Hockey Tournament, in Kamleshwar, Maharashtra.
Ekka then went on to pass FIH Academy’s Level-2 course in umpiring and cracked Hockey India’s online test in 2018.
“As a player, the Senior National Championship (Men), 2015, at Pune was my last tourney,” he recalls.
For a long time, Ekka would play hockey as well as officiate in matches. Finally, he decided to concentrate solely on umpiring. “As a player, the Senior National Championship (Men), 2015, at Pune was my last tourney,” he recalls.
“Rajan will hit the international scene in two years if he remains fit physically, consistently honing his skills,” believes Biswaranjan Sarangi, a technical official at the International Hockey Federation (Advance Level). From the small Kalokandi village in Sundargarh district to steps away from international status – Ekka has rendered the naysayers silent.
And, as is evident by the response to his blowing the whistle at the 2018 South Wales (Australia) versus Odisha-XI match at Rourkela, his well-wishers are having a field day. Read more about The Indian Tribal Sports In Odisha in the Indian tribal site.
