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All India Football Federation: When 14-year-old Joya’s volley hit the net deep in stoppage time to seal India’s 3-2 comeback win against Myanmar in Yangon on March 14, it marked a moment she will remember for a long time. Coming off the bench in only her second international appearance for the Indian U17 women’s national team, the young striker delivered the decisive goal and celebrated by immediately calling the person who had supported her the most – her mother.

For Joya, the journey to that moment began in the narrow streets of her village. Growing up in Phagwara, Punjab, she first picked up football while watching boys play in the neighbourhood.

“My mother was a bit worried at first. Football was not something many girls played back then. But she was later very supportive, once she understood how passionate I am towards the game,” Joya was quoted as saying by the All India Football Federation on their official website.