These days, Rani Kaur Sandhu is committed to the luxury watch and jewellery business.
As a director for Chopard Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, Rani is busy with the fashion world, far from her days of swinging a hockey stick for a good 19 years.
For it was hockey where Rani gained her sporting fame.
She skippered the national women's team to bag the Asian Cup in 1974, 1977 and 1982, and was proclaimed Sportswoman of the Year in 1974 for her contributions to the nation.
After retirement from the national and state teams, Rani stayed active playing for the Royal Selangor Club and turned to coaching, becoming the first woman to coach the national women's team for the Tokyo Invitational Tournament in 1979.
In her heydays, Rani was a pillar of women's hockey in Malaysia, playing first for her school in her hometown in Kuala Kangsar, Perak in 1959.
Her impressive performance resulted in her selection into the Perak combined schools team that very year and the rest, as they say, is history.
Rani, the eighth in a family of 14, has her father, YBHG Dato’ Chingar Singh Sandhu to thank for.
"He was an accomplished boxer and encouraged me and my siblings to take up sport actively. My sisters June, Kalbunth and Santokh Kaur got the ball rolling playing for the country," she said.
Being deft with the hockey stick as a schoolgirl, Rani soon made it to the Perak state team after shining for the Combined Schools.
Rani skippered Selangor for over 12 years and represented Malaysia between 1972 and 1982. She was selected national skipper for the first time in 1973, replacing Maureen Chapman.
As a prolific striker and captain, Rani steered Malaysia to the Asian title in 1974 and 1977. The 1974 final triumph saw Rani bag six goals!
"I am glad much of my efforts and that of the other players were not left unrecognised when I was adjudged the Sportswoman of the Year in 1974.”
"It was just reward for the blood, sweat and tears on and off the pitch," said Rani, who holds a Malaysian Hockey Confederation advanced coaching certificate.
Rani's international career took a twist when she was not selected for being honest and vocal about mismanagement in the sport. But nonetheless, her passion for the game kept her going on at state and club level after that.
Asked on her current career, Rani said many sportswomen had the ability to demonstrate their passion, commitment and intellect in any choice of careers. And Rani knows this well enough.
Why, in 1984 Rani made heads turn off the pitch by being voted as one of the ten best dressed women in Malaysia.
"Even as a player, I had always been conscious of my feminity. If in sports, your life was being in and out of a track suit and T-shirts, it should not be an excuse for not being well dressed after a game.”
"How you dress will reveal the woman in you," said Rani, whom Malaysians had seen coming out of muddy pitches and brandishing a hockey stick.
But it's all a different ball game for Rani now, as a top executive in the fashion world !
CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING SELECTED AS THE ROYAL SELANGOR CLUB'S CHAMPIONOF HOCKEY FOR YESTER-YEARS.
