Spotlight
New Delhi,
18 November 2017
Sports Women
MAKING INDIA PROUD
By Proloy Bagchi
Two
recent TV advertisements show teenage girls displaying their keenness for
playing football and basket ball. While pushing their respective products, the
advertisers unwittingly give a social message: Need for girls to be active in
sports.
Importantly,
current trends underscore that girls have come into sports in a big way.
Lately, they have earned fresh laurels and this year has brought in a rich
harvest of achievements in women’s sports. Remember, in July the women’s
cricket team came within sniffing distance of victory in the 2017 ICC Women’s
World Cup. They were well on their way to win it but seemingly were seized with
an attack of nerves only to narrowly lose the match to England by a mere 9
runs.
Nonetheless,
there were some very outstanding performances during the tournament. While skipper Mithali Raj ended up as the tallest
scorer in the world of women’s cricket, there were very commendable
performances from Punam Raut, Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma,
Jhoolan Goswami etc. Indeed, all of them deservedly won the country’s gratitude
as well as admiration.
Others
too have taken off from eventful July. The country’s ace woman shuttler PV
Sindhu fought hard at Glasgow at the World Badminton Championships finals only
to lose to her Japanese opponent very narrowly. Like at the Cricket World Cup,
it was a matter of so close yet so far. But Sindhu is only 22 and has a long
way to go. Recently she lost to Saina Nehwal in the National Championship. The
win brought Nehwal back into the reckoning after Sindhu had lately wrested the
initiative from her.
On
the heels of this superb performance came the news of the Indian Women’s Hockey
team’s victory at the Asia Cup final. They beat rivals China in a penalty
shoot-out. Significantly, the team won the Asia Cup after a long hiatus of more
than ten years. Now that a competent coach is taking care of the team its
performances are going to be keenly watched. The team is likely to prepare hard
for the next Olympics.
Ditto
is the case with pistol shooter Hina Sidhu who are also lining up and
practicing hard to win laurels for the country. Sidhu recently won Gold
along-with Jitu Rai in a mixed event of the International Shooting Sport
Federation World Cup last month at New Delhi. At the same time,
differently-abled Rubina Francis of Jabalpur won another Gold in 10 metre
pistol shoot in the World Shooting Para Sport World Cup.
Just
the other day news came of the fifth Gold won by Mary Kom at the Asian Boxing
Championships held at Ho Chi Minh City. She has been consistently winning
medals despite her age and increasing obligations. Besides running her family,
she takes her duties as a Parliamentarian very seriously. And yet she always thanks
Jesus for her extra-ordinary performances.
Numerous
others have been known for extraordinary performances in various sporting
events. Akanksha Singh for one, belonging to the famous Varanasi Sisters, a few
years back was acknowledged as the “most valuable player” in the Indian Women’s
Basket Ball team. She currently is its captain.
Likewise,
Deepika Pallikal has earned a name for herself in Women’s Squash championships.
She has been playing squash from an early age and is still active in the
international arena having won several domestic and international titles.
Importantly,
these are instances of girls mostly belonging to the middle classes coming good
in sports. They have done so despite lack of adequate opportunities. A vast
majority do not get even this much despite the huge population of more than
1.26 billion.
In
a telling article the Financial Times said “With more than 1.2 billion people,
of whom 65 per cent are under 35, India would presumably have vast reserves of
athletic talent. Yet it has been unable to convert its human potential into
global competitive success: a problem not confined to the sports field.”
Shockingly,
India has won only 23 medals since Independence and at the Rio Olympics, though
it sent as many as 117 participants only two sportspersons won medals and both
were women.
Undoubtedly,
Indian women are up against various kinds of handicaps that restrain them from
participating in sporting events. First, there is a pathetic absence of
infrastructure for sports, particularly, at the grassroots level in rural
areas. Besides, for centuries women have been subjected to patriarchy which, in
fact, translated into outdoor games or athletics were not meant for them.
Scandalously,
unborn girls have been the subjects of male chauvinism in various States. It is
a great tribute to the guts and determination of Sakshi Malik and her ilk to
pursue a carrier in wrestling in Haryana where the sex ratio is highly skewed
in favour of boys whereby men have to import brides from eastern States. Sakshi
Malik, perhaps was inspired by her seniors like the Phogat sisters, six of whom
launched themselves in the wrestling ring and three of them won several
Commonwealth Championship medals.
Apart
from Hindu conservatism similar considerations among Muslims do not allow their
girls to take part in outdoor events or athletics. However, it is a matter of
great satisfaction that women in the Muslim majority Jammu and Kashmir have
organized themselves into a team to participate in the Inter-State Women’s
Cricket Championships.
Women
are also held back from sports by lecherous sports officials who also are
venal. The fair sex has always got the wrong end of the stick and is cruelly
been confined to play their stereotypical role of playing the housewife. Girls
from their very childhood have drilled into their heads that activities like
sports are for only boys and not for them as they have to be modest and
feminine.
Consequently,
a “gender gap” is built from childhood, particularly in rural areas where
education of the girl child is yet to make inroads. Educational deprivation as
also nutritional deficiency for girls starts from here holding them back from
any strenuous sporting activities. The narrow-mindedness of the parents in
rural households is largely responsible for keeping the girls away from schools
and its various activities, including sports.
But
with 24X7 news and sports channels beaming news about various sporting
activities in the country, things seem to be changing. The regional press
publishes numerous items of girls’ creditable performances in the sporting
arena. Numerous success stories of the fair sex in sports have stoked what they
see on TV. The Central and State Governments have also allocated generous funds
for girls’ education and their sporting activities. Hopefully, a decade from
now, things are likely to be very different. ---- INFA
(Copyright, India News
& Feature Alliance)
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