After historic World Cup finale, Savita Punia urges PM Modi to ‘save WHIL’ | hockey news

Calcutta: India’s best World Cup result in 52 years prompted an appeal from former India captain and goalkeeper Savita Punia, who wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media after the team’s historic campaign, asking him to help save the Women’s Hockey Indian League (WHIL).Hours after India finished fifth in the World Cup in Amstelveen on Thursday, Savita posted a series of messages on ‘X’, tagging the Prime Minister, union sports minister Mansukh Mandaviya, several other ministers, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, sports personalities and potential corporate sponsors.“Sir, our women have just rewritten hockey history after 52 years. The league that trained these players, the women’s HIL, needs support to survive. One word from you could change his destiny,” he wrote while tagging Modi.The timing of the appeal was significant. India had just completed one of their best World Cup campaigns, beating world number five Germany 3-1 to finish fifth, their best result since the inaugural World Cup in 1974, when they finished fourth.But while the result offered much to celebrate, Savita’s posts highlighted a concern off the field: WHIL’s uncertain future. Savita believes the league is too important to allow it to disappear.“The WHIL is that platform. It creates opportunities, develops talent and paves the way for future Olympic and World Cup stars,” she wrote in another post, before making a direct appeal to government ministers: “Let’s make sure the girls coming today have a league to dream of playing in tomorrow.”The India captain also reached out to some of the country’s biggest names in sports and entertainment, asking them to use their influence to give visibility and potential sponsors to women’s hockey.Tagging Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra and Ananya Birla, she wrote: “Women’s hockey needs your voice right now. A single tweet from you could bring back sponsors and visibility to WHIL.”He also called out the Reliance Foundation and Nita Ambani, highlighting their work in grassroots sports and developing Olympic talent. “The women’s HIL is exactly the kind of grassroots-to-elite pipeline that needs support like this right now,” she wrote.Savita did not forget those who already supported women’s football. He thanked Parth Jindal and JSW, along with the ownership groups of Delhi Pipers and Bengal Tigers, for supporting women’s hockey and urged others to follow suit.The message circulating in his posts was clear: the success that India enjoyed in the Netherlands cannot be taken for granted.“The math is simple: no league → no talent pool → no next generation → no World Cup medal,” Savita wrote. “Our women had India’s best result in 52 years WITH a struggling league. Imagine what is possible if we really invested in it.”For a team that has just proven that it can compete with the best in the world, Savita’s appeal is ultimately to ensure that the next generation has the same opportunity and that the path to the national team does not disappear just when Indian women’s hockey appears to be moving forward.