In 2016, when Sangita Kumari scored a hat trick at the Women’s Under-18 Asia Cup hockey tournament in Bangkok, a man in his late forties shed a tear while sitting miles away in a village in Jharkhand. As Sangita gave India a memorable victory against Chinese Taipei and bagged a bronze medal, the man in Jharkhand went on a trip down memory lane. 

It was a surreal experience for Benedict Kujur. He was watching his 15-year-old student while she made millions of Indians proud. Seeing her score a tap-in goal in the first eight minutes of the game, he could only think of the ease with which she had done the same thing seven years ago. 

That was when Benedict had spotted her for the first time in Karangagudi village of Jharkhand’s Simdega district, where she was struggling even to get one meal a day. The daughter of a daily wage earner, all Sangita had at that time was her love for the sport. Playing against some of the best names in the game as a teenager had never crossed her mind.

Like Sangita, five of Benedict’s hockey students have played at the international level in the last couple of years. They include Beauty Dungdung, Sushma Kumari, Alka Dundung and Deepika Soreng. Additionally, over 50 of his students have played at the state level. 

And all of them could reach those platforms only because of the sheer passion with which Benedict started coaching them for free. His vision — to brew a hockey revolution in his district. 

A primary school teacher by profession, Benedict learnt to play hockey on his own. In the early 2000s, he introduced it as a mandatory subject in the government school where he was teaching. Since then, he has been spending one hour before and after school-hours, training children.

The inspirational coach has left no stone unturned. Whether it was cleaning the ground by himself, using his salary to pay for a player’s nutritional requirement or making hockey sticks from bamboo, Benedict has done everything he can to keep his love for the sport alive and to help poor kids dream big.

“Not having infrastructure or money to play the sport should not be the reason behind killing a child’s dream or interest. I never pursued hockey professionally as I did not have a coach who could guide or motivate me. I wanted to play for the country, but when my passion was shattered, I decided to be the coach I never had. Today, all those struggles and hardships seem small when I see my students play at the international level,” he tells The Better India. 

The Beginning: Branches to Hockey Sticks 

Benedict was merely five years old when he saw a few teenage boys playing with and manoeuvring a dried fruit with the branch of a tree. Amazed at the boys trying to move the fruit around with a stick, he tried to imitate them. 

Soon, he started playing that game at home with his siblings. That’s how he was introduced to hockey, quite accidentally. Since there was no source of entertainment back in the seventies when the district was majorly a forest, hockey and football became the most played games.

Like any other sports buff, he would save paper cuttings of any news on hockey. Television sets were introduced in his region when he was in his twenties. Benedict would sit for hours at a tea stall or shops to watch hockey matches. In an era sans YouTube, he learnt the techniques and strategies by watching games and reading interviews of players. 

But that was all he could do. Coming from a backward tribal belt in Jharkhand where basic amenities like electricity and roads are insufficient, things like hockey ground and equipment weren’t even close to dreams. Moreover, he had promised a career path to his parents, and he had to fulfil it. After completing his graduation in English Literature, Benedict secured a job as a primary school teacher in 2003. 

Though he never got an opportunity to play at the state level due to his financial situation, he wanted to use his position as a teacher to not only reignite his passion but to also introduce hockey at the school where he was teaching.

Amidst a resource crunch, honing talented children of the village and preparing them to play for India is no mean feat. He manually cleaned the ground behind the school and spent nearly a year convincing parents of class 1-5 students to let them stay in school for extra hours of practice. 

When he started, the general tone was discouraging towards sports. Still, after learning the benefits of playing for the state (like getting food, accommodation, government jobs and stipend), parents came on board. 

Since most of the students belonged to families engaged in labour work, buying hockey sticks, and even a ball was out of the question. 

So Benedict went back to his basics and did the next best thing. 

He started to shape tree branches like hockey sticks and would often use dried fallen fruits in place of a ball. Some years later, when more students showed interest, he started crafting sticks from bamboo. 

“I was so happy when our bamboo sticks replaced branches. Something as small as this boosted us morally, and we felt like we could play for India. From crossing rivers to trekking hills, we have been trained in the most unfavourable conditions, but I guess that formed our foundation. Benedict sir’s running, and ball tackling techniques help me perform better even today. He has played an integral part in my career, and I am grateful for that,” says Beauty Dundung, who has played international matches as well.

The jugaad continued for some years until the Simdega Hockey Association spotted Benedict. Impressed by his students’ victories in local matches, they decided to support the talented students with proper hockey sticks and balls. 

“Being a famous sport in the region, we often organise local tournaments between government schools and colleges.  I met Benedict a few years ago during one of those matches. A small interaction with him was enough for us to see his dedication and love for the sport. His students have made the state and country so proud despite not having all the resources. It is commendable how he has managed to make the sport a household name in our district,” says  Manoj Kumar, Secretary of the association.

Some help (like hockey sticks and shoes) came from private companies and NGOs as well, but it did not entirely resolve the financial problem that existed even after his students reached the district level. Maintaining a diet and taking them for tournaments across the district meant they’d need more money. 

Benedict would often end up dedicating half his salary to purchase local cereals like maise and finger millet to meet their nutritional needs. 

Even today, the infrastructural issues exist, and students do not have proper shoes to play the sport, but that does not deter Benedict from doing as much as he can.

“I know now that nothing can stop a wage labourer’s daughter from representing India internationally. Sangita is a prime example. If given better facilities, I am sure Jharkhand can produce more Sangitas in future,” he adds. 

Get in touch with Benedict at benedictkujur60@gmail.com

(Edited by Tanaya Singh)

As Mumbai Indians (MI) skipper, Rohit Sharma effortlessly scored a four off the very first ball in the opening match of Indian Premier League (IPL) on 19 September, Sriram Sabhapathy, watching the match from Bengaluru, let out a sigh. It was not a good sign for his favourite team, Chennai Super Kings (CSK). 

Five overs later, Rohit was removed by opponent Piyush Chawla. Though beaming with joy, Sriram acknowledged Rohit Sharma’s innings like a true sports fan.

Meanwhile Raaj, his co-worker, instantly pictured the uncanny similarity between Rohit and a Warli-themed painting. Just like the tribal art of Maharashtra, there was a contrast of sobriety and enthusiasm in Rohit’s IPL captainship and batting style. Raaj got to work, bringing his vision to life. 

A few hours later, Raaj was ready with a rough picture infused with geometric shapes. The body took the shape of a triangle (depicting mountains) and the face was round (representing the Sun/Moon). The rectangular hands swung as if to hit a shot. It is quite an eye-catching piece based on the IPL. 

Though this was not the first novel piece of art conceptualised by the Bengaluru-based ‘LastBench’ team, it still takes hours to make them – and all of this is for a good cause. 

This one-it’s-kind series ‘Folk Cricket’ began against the backdrop of IPL fervour and is the startup’s pet project to help artisans who have been affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic. 

“Our company essentially helps corporations and organisations bring out their journeys through videos and other content-driven formats in creative and meaningful ways. Being an art-based company we realised that art is not an essential item and people will refrain from buying them for some time. Small artisans have been hit severely so we wanted to do our bit by coming up with an IPL series that people would easily relate to,” Sriram tells The Better India. 

The team hopes to sell their creations as merchandise and the proceeds of the sales will go to the artisans, “We are currently in talks with an artisan organisation and companies who could help us merchandise,” says Sriram. 

It was Raaj Rufaro, a visual arts student at Chitra Kala Parishad, who identified the nation’s pulse at the right time and came up with an idea that would also promote regional traditional artforms like Warli, Bommalattam, Kalighat and so on alongside the IPL. 

“Our love for cricket and cricketer worshipping is well-known. We looked for artforms that were not too regional so that people could relate. We gathered all resources from friends, the internet and various write-ups. For each sketch, we have to do extensive research to find commonalities between the artform and player,” says Raaj. 

It takes multiple trials and errors before finalising the look. Bringing out key characteristics of the players while ensuring that the art form is not altered in any way is the most challenging part. For instance, they started with Tanjore painting but failed to relate it a cricketer’s personality.

For some sketches, the amalgamation comes naturally like in the case of Virat Kohli, the captain of Royal Challenger Banglore’s (RCB) and Rohit Sharma. 

“Togalu Gombeyatta is a popular puppet show format in Karnataka where the artist sits behind the light source and leads the puppet movements. Likewise, the tidings of RCB fall in the hands of Virat during the IPL. With his spellbinding performance in every match, he pulls the strings of victory,” explains Sriram.

In their ongoing series, the team has come up with five sketches (as of 30th September) and will unveil others in the upcoming weeks. 

From MS Dhoni’s Bommalattam puppet show to Andre Russel, the ‘Kali’ of Kolkata Knight Riders, here’s a look at majestic IPL art by LastBench:

Get in touch with LastBench here

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

Pooja Bishnoi was just three years old when she fell far behind during a race with some boys. “I was playing one evening and noticed some boys running in the area. I expressed my wish of running with the boys to my uncle Sarwan. They arranged a playful race. I lost. And immediately told my uncle to teach me running,” says Pooja.

“It was 2014, and Pooja ran well. I saw it. But she still lost the race. That is when I thought, with some training, she could perform well,” says her 21-year-old maternal uncle Sarwan Budiya, living in Jodhpur, Rajasthan.

Sarwan was an athlete himself, associated with the Sports Authority of India, Jodhpur. But he was forced to give up his sport after a severe hamstring injury.

After a month of training, Sarwan made Pooja run with the boys again. “The closest boy chasing her was 20 metres away,” Sarwan said.

From that simple start, Pooja would go on to make us all proud, with her many achievements, despite only being 10 years old now.

Roadrunner to athlete

In 2017, at the age of six, Pooja covered 10 km in 48 minutes for a Jodhpur marathon. She also became famous for flaunting six-pack abs at that tender age.

Looking at her training videos and impressed by her initial achievements, in January 2019, the Virat Kohli Foundation extended support to her.

“We approached the manager of the Virat Kohli Foundation. After a detailed inquiry, they decided to support her,” Sarwan said.

Tushar Nair, talent manager at the Foundation said, “Sarwan approached and when we checked the profile, Pooja was quite impressive. The thing that stood out for the athlete was her clarity of thought and intent to achieve a big goal.”

https://www.instagram.com/poojabishnoi36/?hl=en

Tushar said that Pooja’s achievements are commendable and she has a promising future. “We definitely think she has the potential to win a gold at the Olympics and we are building an ecosystem to support her,” he added.

In November 2019, Pooja ran 3 km in 12.50 minutes, an Under-14 World Record, which she achieved at the Sportygo tournament in Delhi. Pooja has also won gold medals in the 3,000 meters, 1,500 meters and 800 metres category.

Sarwan, now officially her coach, says the situation was not so good a year ago. “Pooja was born in Guda Bishnoiyan village near Jodhpur. Pooja’s parents live away, and my family raises Pooja. I worked at a friend’s shop as a business manager to support her dietary needs and trained her,” he adds.

Speaking to The Better India, Pooja’s coach said the duo struggled financially a lot. “Pooja’s parents are traditional farmers and cannot support the high cost of her training. My niece was confident and did not shy away from hard training. But finances made progress difficult,” he added.

Strict training regime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi1G7OhgQWI

Pooja says that her routine includes waking up at 3 am every day to train. This continues until 7 or 8 am. The girl then attends school (or online classes these days), takes rest in the afternoon and trains again in the evening.

“I have a strict diet to follow involving dry fruits, fruits, proteins and no social life. I attend online classes to keep up with my academics and sleep at 10 pm,” Pooja told The Better India.

“I am preparing to compete at the Youth Olympics, scheduled to be held in 2024 and I want to win a gold for the country,” Pooja said.

When asked why Sarwan was so heavily invested in his niece, he said, “I lost my career due to an injury. Initially, when Pooja succeeded, I thought of fulfilling my dream to win a medal for the country through her becoming a successful athlete.”

Sarwan says that Pooja’s mother (his sister) also sacrificed a lot and supported him during his athletic days. “My sister supported my nutrition and also fought to let me continue with sports as my career. This is my way of repaying her,” he adds.

All eyes on gold

“When I started training Pooja, the aim was to fulfil my unfinished dream. But now it has changed to winning an Olympic gold medal for the country,” Sarwan adds.

Speaking about maintaining such a heavy physical workout at such a young age, and the possibility of it having adverse effects on the body, Maitreyi Bokil, a sports-nutritionist based in Pune said, “It largely depends on what her diet is like. Her parents or guardians should ensure she is eating good fat (nuts, seeds, nuts, different kinds of butter) and overall, eating a balanced diet will support her physical activity.”

Maitreyi said that eating well will ensure she maintains her body fat stores, which are necessary to start Menarche (periods), prevent vitamin D deficiencies and give her enough energy to exercise.

Here’s hoping she makes us all very proud soon.

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

My elder son, all of eight years of age, was extremely enthusiastic about this article. Why? Because it’s about arm-wrestling, popularly known as panja, a game he loves to play. Little did we both know that arm wrestling is a competitive sport that attracts participants not just from various parts of India but also the world to its battleground.

Pro Panja League, an arm wrestling league conducted it’s very first tournament in February, 2020, just before the pandemic-induced lockdown began. The brain-child of Parvin Dabas and Preeti Jhnagiani, this tournament had more than 250 participants from 15 states across India. One of the unique features of this league is that men, women, and specially-abled participants are all on an equal footing when it comes to competing.

The Better India caught up with Parvin and Preeti, who spoke about how the league was conceptualised, what it entails, and the work going into making this an international league.

Next level sport

For Parvin, who spent his childhood in Delhi, panja was something that every child grew up playing. “It was a very popular game among my cousins and friends. What I like is its aggressive but non-violent nature. I saw potential to make it more than just a game,” says Parvin. The sport isn’t like martial arts or karate, and allows you to showcase your strength without the use of violence.

“It is a game that is very popular in many Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in India, and in putting together the Pro Panja league, our intent was to take Indian players to an international stage,” says Parvin.

The league had six weight categories for men and two for women. For men, the categories are 60kgs, 70kgs, 80kgs, 90kgs, 100kgs and 100kg plus, while for women the categories are 65kgs and 65kgs plus and an open category for the specially abled.

Ring side view

Preeti, who was born and raised in Mumbai, says this was an entirely new experience for her. “Panja wasn’t something I was familiar with until this league came together,” she says. Speaking about her experience of watching the initial few matches courtside, she says, “The sheer intensity that I witnessed blew my mind. Some of the participants we had were national level players, and all that they needed was a nudge to push them forward.”

What this sporting event guarantees its spectators, Preeti says, is “thrill”. “Many of the matches went down to the wire and as a spectator we sat on the edge of our seats biting our nails.”

Contestant speaks

Having won nine national level medals in arm wrestling, Sunil Kumar (37) a resident of Amritsar, who won the gold medal in the 100 kg category at the Pro Panja league 2020, says, “This platform was different as it took it to a whole new level. We had large audiences cheering us on during the matches and everything was streamlined.” He adds, “Arm wrestling is a sport that is conducted in many countries. Pro Panja has simply elevated the sport in India to a level where we can now think of hosting other countries here.”

Manish Kumar, who participated under the specially-abled category, is afflicted with Polio. At the Pro Panja League, he won the gold under the specially-abled category and has also represented India seven times in the World Championship circuit. He says, “Arm wrestling might look like an easy sport, but we train for almost 10 to 12 hours before competing. Strength training and various exercises to train our hands and even fingers is what we focus on.” Having participated in several international arm wrestling events, he says that having a league in India is something that he cherishes.

The gold medallists were awarded Rs 15,000, while the silver medallists received Rs 10,000 and the bronze medallists won Rs 5,000 as prize money. This was constant across all three categories (men, women and specially-abled).

Panja – a sport with rules

While there is no time limit assigned to each match it is upto the referees to call the match to a halt if one or both participants, in their opinion, are unfit to carry the match forward. Each match is officiated by two referees, one on each side of the table.

Before the match begins, the participants are required to grip each other’s palm in such a manner that the thumb knuckle is visible. The match begins only when the referees are satisfied with the grip of both the participants. Each participant should attempt to pin their opponent’s arm onto a touch pad placed next to each player.

As simple as it may sound, there are various fouls that the referees need to keep an eye out for. Touching a part of your own body with your free hand during the match, dropping the shoulder below the height of the touch pad, using expletives, abusing or displaying poor sportsmanship are considered fouls.

The next edition of the Pro Panja League is scheduled to take place in 2021 and you can click here to get more details.

(Edited by Yoshita Rao)

Practising Mallakhamb—a sport which includes gymnasts performing gravity-defying feats—in his backyard in the States to perform at the Statue of Liberty, Chinmay Patankar is a US proponent of this traditional sport.

Back in 2013, when he decided to take up his childhood sport, often described as ‘yoga on a pole’ in the US, Chinmay was unaware of the impact he could make. Today, he teaches Mallakhamb in various states of the US such as Pennsylvania, New Jersey, San Francisco, Los Angeles and making his impression in Canada and Poland in Europe.

Hailing from Pune, Maharashtra, this financial banking professional was introduced to this sport, which involves wrestling grips, aerial yoga poses and gymnastics, at the age of nine, and he pursued it until 2003.

During this time, he excelled in the sport and performed publicly at Ganesh festival, events and other competitions in Pune. He also won Maharashtra’s prestigious Shiv Chhatrapati Award for sports in 2003, recognising his work in the field.

Eventually, academics and career took priority over the sport and Chinmay flew to the USA after completing his MBA degree at IIM Kozhikode in 2009.

“I did not find any time to go back to the sport for 10 long years. Mainly because of my professional commitments and moving places in the US,” Chinmay says.

Revisiting childhood dreams

In the summer of 2013, Chinmay settled in Edison in New Jersey when he began thinking about the sport again.

“I finally had a permanent house and a backyard. I could not resist the urge to get my hands back on the Mallakhamb pole. The pole itself is about 8 to 10 feet, and the sport requires about 20 feet of ceiling space. So the backyard was thought to be a safe place,” Chinmay adds.

Within weeks his friends and the power of social media spread the news about his activity. “I had no idea that Mallakhamb would get so popular here. Friends who knew about the sport joined, and we practised it on weekends,” he adds.

Chinmay continued to teach children for a couple of years, but he didn’t want to stop there. “The idea of practising the sport in my backyard and teaching to a closed group of Indian friends was that it was safe. And in case of injuries, there were no doubts that my friends would sue me,” Chinmay chuckles.

But many non-Indians became interested and wanted to learn the sport, which pressed for the need to bring a structure to his teaching methods. In 2015, a couple of his close friends decided to start the Mallakhamb Federation USA.

“People approached us saying they knew about the sport but never came across anyone who teaches. We formed the body to cover the liability, promote and encourage the sport. My visa does not allow me to start a business. A couple of friends, who have permanent citizenship, and my wife, Pradnya, on their permitted visas set up the body with the core principle of running it as a ‘Not for profit’ organisation,” Chinmay explains.

Backyard to Times Square

In 2015, Chinmay with 15 trained children performed Mallakhamb during the Diwali festival at Times Square, New York.

“We performed with the association of Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), a government body that promotes tourism and received $ 3,000 as donations,” Chinmay says.

Since then, they performed the sport at the Statue of liberty, Boston Children’s Museum, Lincoln Center of Performing Arts and other areas.

In 2017, Chinmay also demonstrated the sport at the United Nations for the first time to do so.

Chinmay and Pradnya also invested in charting out a curriculum to form a certificate course. The course is taught at basic, intermediate and advanced levels along with some coaches the federation has managed to train. Their book, also available on Amazon, has sold 2,000 copies online.

Chinmay says there is no straight answer to his success and becoming famous. “It is the charm of the sport that attracts people. We never approached anyone in the initial years. People knew about Mallakhamb, but there was no one to teach. We happened to kickstart the process,” Chinmay adds.

The Non-Resident Indian (NRI) says the reason behind the popularity in different parts of the US is the rewarding nature of the sport.

A healthy sport

“When students climb an eight feet wooden pole and use some core strengths to pull off visually astonishing postures, it gives them a different sense of achievement and confidence,” Chinmay says.

The Mallakhamb practitioner describing an incident says, “A student came to inform us that Mallakhamb helped her in roller-skating as her core strengths improved. The flexibility and agility are a part of what the sport gives.”

The other benefits of improved health, he adds, are better immune systems and increased tolerances towards allergic substances.

Speaking about challenges, he says, “As we demonstrated Mallakhamb with young boys, the audiences doubted if the sport was gender-neutral. The sport was perceived as gender-biased and even aggressive at times.”

To rectify this misconception, the Mallakhamb Federation USA then involved girls. “We consulted doctors and experts to find out if the sport harms girls in any way. Fortunately, it didn’t,” he adds.

Every weekend, Chinmay and other coaches teach children between the age group of 4-14 years for a fee and to interested adults up to the age of 40 for free.

During the weekdays, Chinmay wakes up at 5 am preparing for work and spending evenings by exercising and focussing on various initiatives to promote the sport.

To fulfil a growing demand

Speaking about the financial challenges, Pradnya, Chinmay’s partner and president of the federation says getting the right coaches and attracting finance is the biggest challenge.

The coaches in the US cost a hefty sum of about $6,000 a month. Many Indian coaches are willing to migrate but are not well-versed with the American style and language of teaching the sport.

The federation is trying to create new coaches through the existing teachers. “We are also deriving a sustainable model where American youth can get certificates, earn money and make a career out of the sport. Two such students have been trained in LA and Philadelphia centres,” Pradnya says.

“We have trained over 700 people in the past few years and wish to involve 1,000 more. There is a growing demand from people across the US,” Pradnya says, adding that there are five centres eagerly waiting to open, but they’re facing financial constraints.

“The not for profit feature limits our spending all the money earned from coaching in investing it back in the federation. We require about $10,000 to start a centre along with the coach, the pole and mattresses,” Pradnya says.

Watch Mallakhamb Federation USA performing at the governor’s island on International Day of Yoga, in 2018.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnZ2jfzJWi4

The federation needs an additional $50,000 to start new centres identified in Houston, Boston, San Francisco and Virginia. “We do not have enough poles, and we need to have a dedicated coach. The recent mention in PM Modi’s Mann Ki Baat gave us a big boost. We have written to the Government of India to provide us with some poles or subsidies to accelerate the promotion of the sport,” she adds.

Speaking to The Better India, Pradnya says the couple and members of the federation would only feel successful if the sport becomes commercially sustainable in the USA. To achieve this the federation is planning to get better exposure by organising the Mallakhamb World Championship, which is scheduled to be held in 2021 in Manhattan.

Chinmay says, “There are more visitors in Manhattan for an event than it would be in Mumbai. The wider reach could help get some financial support or funds along with promoting the sport.”

To donate to the Mallakhamb Federation USA, click here.

There are sports stars and then there are legends like Diego Maradona. He was perhaps one of the earliest representations of talent trouncing of any personal misgivings, who breathed his last on 25 November 2020, at the age of 60, due to a heart attack.

A key player in the 1986 World Cup, Maradona was instrumental in leading Argentina to winning the FIFA World Cup. During the quarter finals with England, he described his unlikely goal as “the hand of God” incident, and from then on, the phrase was synonymous with the footballer. 

Maradona was one who lived his life King size, and by his own rules. He never deferred or cowered before anyone, “I am black or white, I’ll never be grey in my life,” he once said.  His mercurial talent and temperament took him to greatest heights and plunged him into abysmal lows as well. Whatever his personal misgivings were, there is no question that there are few stars that shine brighter than Maradona in the world of sports.

Today, as people the world over mourn his passing, it is with a great sense of celebration for his life that he is revered.

Mike Tyson, a former professional boxer from America also took to twitter to speak about his fond memories of Maradona.

The Hand of God, Maradona has left us. In 86 we both won our championships. They use to compare the two of us. He was one of my hero’s and a friend. I respected him so much. He will be greatly missed. pic.twitter.com/E5j6DSfJas

— Mike Tyson (@MikeTyson) November 25, 2020

With tributes pouring in from all quarters, I M Vijayan, former Indian Football captain also took to twitter to express his condolence at the passing of Maradona. “RIP God of football,” he said in a tweet. 

RIP God of football 😢 pic.twitter.com/7NO8qlZ5uT

— I M Vijayan (@IMVijayan1) November 25, 2020

Pope Francis also remembered Maradona in his prayers after learning of the soccer legend’s death.

Argentina President Alberto Fernández announcing three days of national mourning said,  “You took us to the top of the world. You made us immensely happy. You were the greatest of all.”

At the time when Vijayan got to meet Maradona, he said, “The feeling of meeting Maradona was that of being close to God himself. This was the greatest recognition for me as a footballer. No gold medal or award can match it.”

(Edited by Yoshita Rao)

One of my earliest memories of football, the game I love above all else, was seeing my father’s friend insert a tape into a video cassette recorder (VCR) and showing me the greatest goal he had ever seen. Almost 26 years ago, he showed me an Argentine genius, Diego Armando Maradona, standing barely 5 feet 5 inches, scoring that iconic solo goal versus England in the 1986 World Cup quarterfinal at the Azteca Stadium in Mexico City.

(Image above courtesy Twitter/Argentina en India)

Many remember the infamous ‘Hand of God’ goal in that match. But it was this goal that truly cemented my love for the game. It’s a goal I’ve seen time and time again—on television, on my desktop in college, on my work laptop and finally on my mobile phone a gazillion times. And you know what? It never gets old.

His solo effort against England integrated the elements of art, football and life into one move. That defines everything I love about the game of football.

For a period of time, this genius of football had it all, and everyone loved him for it. But what Maradona exhibited more than anything else was pure love for the game. Every time he played and everywhere he went, he wore his heart on his sleeve. It endeared him to so many fans across different generations and around the world. When you add to the fact that he was the very best ever to play the most popular sport in the world, what you have is an icon.

But tragically last night, his heart stopped following a heart attack at the age of 60. Fans from Imphal to Buenos Aires are still in mourning. Among those mourning the hardest are fans in India.

The same emotion which endeared Maradona to the rest of the world is what made him so deeply popular in India. Just read this excerpt of a report published by journalist Subhankar Mondal in Goal.com, when Maradona visited Kolkata in 2008 to inaugurate a private football academy, which was almost secondary to his very presence there.

At the iconic Salt Lake Stadium before an exhibition match, Mondal writes:

There was emotion when at the start of the match, Maradona ran onto the pitch and did his famous juggling. There was emotion when during half-time, some ball-boys rushed onto Maradona to touch him. Even the players who were participating in the exhibition match couldn’t resist feeling the emotions and feeling proud at being able to hug the Great Diego.

Four years later, the greatest football player of all-time returned to India, and this time he landed in the football-mad state of Kerala. He was just there to open a jewellery showroom. But nobody really cared about that except of course the showroom owners.

Standing on a makeshift stage, he cut a cake in celebration of his 52nd birthday (in advance), exchanged headers with Indian football legend IM Vijayan, kicked balls into large crowds and even danced for a bit. There was only one thing that could explain the delirium of the crowd, and that was pure unadulterated emotion.

Finally, the third and the last time he graced Indian soil was in 2017, and once again he was back in the City of Joy. He was there for a charity event, and former Indian cricket captain Saurav Ganguly was slated to play Maradona in an exhibition match.

Although the Argentine legend didn’t last long on the pitch, football-mad Bengalis caught one last sight of their favourite global citizen. Nobody cared that he was overweight and out of breath. All they cared was that they saw their legend in the flesh.

India’s began its love affair with the FIFA World Cup tournament in 1982. Then, for the first time, the semi-finals and final were telecast live on Doordarshan. For the 1986 World Cup, the entire tournament was telecast live in India on colour TV.

The 1986 World Cup belonged to Maradona. It was peak Maradona. For my father’s generation in India, particularly in the football-crazy parts of the country, it’s what established a cult following of this Argentine genius. It was their first memory of live international football. They soon passed on their love of this icon to their children.

It didn’t matter to them that his life was eventually caught up in drugs, alcohol, a series of debilitating health issues and instances of juvenile behaviour.

I suppose the fact that he did the English dirty with the ‘Hand of God’ also gave many Indians a kick. Open the British tabloids today morning, and you’ll still find a reference to his lack of ‘sportsmanship’ and ‘fairness’. You can almost hear Indians and Argentinians, who have suffered at the hand of White British colonialism, laugh in irony.

More than anything else, however, what they remember is the joy he gave them. As Maradona himself once said in filmmaker Asif Kapadia’s iconic documentary about him, “When you’re on the field, life goes away, the problems go away, everything goes away!”

(Edited by Vinayak Hegde)

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“Is Bheem still alive?”’ asks Dhritrashtra after realising he had crushed a clay-statue of Bheem instead of killing him. To this, Bheem replies, “I am waiting for your blessings. If you are still angry, I will embrace you (and die).” 

Wiping his tears, he adds, “…If you allow me, may I wipe the blood on your chest?”

This scene in B R Chopra’s legendary serial, Mahabharat, ends with Bheem and Dhritrashtra hugging each other amid tears of joy. The soul-stirring scene, even today, rightly resonates with millions of viewers across India. I saw my grandmother shed a tear once again when the series was aired on TV during the lockdown. 

Actor Praveen Kumar Sobti effortlessly aced Bheem’s character, for which he is remembered fondly even after so many years. His aura, well-built structure and comedic timing, combined with soft-spoken and authoritative dialogues, made him one of the most loved on-screen characters. 

While Praveen’s titular roles in Mahabharat and over 50 other films are well-known, many of his fans are unaware of his staggering career in sports before he entered the glamour industry. 

For those uninitiated, Praveen represented India at national and international levels and won several medals at Asian and Commonwealth games. He participated in the Olympics twice. 

Making India Proud 

Praveen was a well-known face in Indian athletics during the 1960s and 70s. Due to his height and build, he became a professional hammer and discus thrower. He participated and won gold medals at the 1966 and 1970 Asian Games in Hong Kong. He bagged a silver at Commonwealth Games in Kingston in 1966, as well as at the Asian Games in Tehran in 1974. He also participated in the Olympics twice in 1968 and 1972. 

Making it to the international sporting event was not an easy journey for him. According to the Times of India, Praveen was in his prime when he began suffering from back problems. However, his zeal to attend the Olympics did not deter him from auditioning for trials in 1968. 

He hit the record mark of 70m during the trials, a mark accomplished only by two other people in the world — a Hungarian and a Russian athlete. 

However, he missed winning at the Olympics by a huge margin, finishing at the 20th position in Mexico and 26th in the following Olympics in Munich.

Becoming the ‘Dreaded’ Actor 

After a successful stint in sports, Praveen turned towards acting in the 1980s. “I earned a lot of accolades in sports. Wherever I went, I got immense love. After leaving sports I still wanted to be popular and known among my fans. I wanted to be in the limelight. That’s why I opted for cinema,” he told TOI. 

After doing an unnoticeable role without dialogues in Ravikant Nagaich directorial ‘Farz’, Praveen got his real break in Raksha. He played a large henchman Gorilla in a James Bond-styled movie starring veteran actor Jeetendra. 

One of his notable roles was in the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer Shehanshah. He played a goon who gets punched by Bachchan right after he says, “Rishtey main toh hum tumhare baap hote hai… naam hai Shehansha.” Other movies where Praveen played similar roles include Hamse Hai Zama, Yudh, Karishma Kudrat Ka, Loha, Mohabbat ke Dushman and so on.

With these films, Praveen’s image was associated with being a“dreaded” character in Bollywood – he came to be known as a villain’s sidekick. His appearance in any scene meant a fighting sequence was about to unfold.

A life-changing opportunity came knocking in the late 80s, when his friends suggested his name for Bheem to B R Chopra. While he was the perfect fit for the role, the makers disliked his dialogue delivery. Not one to easily give up, Praveen requested Chopra to give him a week to improvise. 

“I brought a Mahabharat Grantha and started practising the lines loudly in my house. There were some difficult words too and I wrote them on paper. After a week, I went on the sets and impressed everyone,” he said.  

The rest, as they say, is history. 

Featured Image Source: Kiran Kumar S/Twitter

(Edited by Divya Sethu)

For 20-year-old Sandhya Rai, a rugby player representing India, it took four years, a series of news coverage, and photos in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris to convince villagers in her area that she plays rugby and excels at it.

Sandhya’s parents are tea labourers, who spent their lives plucking leaves in the Saraswati tea estate of Baikunthapur forest, located in east Siliguri, West Bengal.

But Sandhya chose to lead an entirely different life.

The national rugby player is the only Indian among the top 32 ‘unstoppable’ women players from Asia, part of Asia’s Rugby’s Unstoppable Campaign. The campaign aims to promote the sport among girls, and highlight inspiring stories of women who battle all odds to achieve success.

Rugby was introduced to Sandhya in 2013, when some players from the Jungle Crows, an amateur rugby team from Kolkata, came to train children in the village.

‘Rugby: Not a girl’s game’

“There are many hardships in village life, and I have faced many challenges since my childhood,” Sandhya says, adding, “Girls never played any sports in my village. Only boys were allowed to play, the girls were confined to schools or house chores. When I started playing rugby with other girls, people called us names, demotivated us, and even questioned why we were playing a sport meant for boys.”

Trouble escalated for the girls when they decided to give up their churidars (a traditional Indian dress) and trousers for shorts. “Running in lengthy trousers was uncomfortable, and hence, we started wearing shorts. The villagers did not take this well, and failed to understand our needs,” she says.

Sandhya adds that none of the villagers had ever been out of the village boundary for any purpose. The village is so remotely located that electricity reached the area only recently, and pursuing higher secondary education in the area is rare. “When the villagers learned about the team travelling to play tournaments, they doubted us. They even scared us saying that we will be sold in the cities and face such other atrocities. It was difficult to convince them otherwise,” she recalls.

Even when the team earned a trophy in a national tournament in 2015, the villagers alleged that it was bought, Sandhya says.

Earning the village’s trust

Things changed when, in 2017, the team represented India at the World Paris Games. After sharing pictures of their trip, which included one with the Eiffel Tower glittering behind the girls, the villagers believed and eventually started supporting them.

Sandhya says that after local newspapers and other media hailed their success, the villagers felt proud of their achievements. So far, nine girls have made it the national rugby team from her village. The young girl says that her unending struggles and drive to never give up have made her “unstoppable”. “I remember being very aggressive and ignoring whatever the villagers were saying about us. They did not understand our perspective, and all of us had to fight various personal battles,” she says.

Khelo Rugby and the Jungle Crow Foundation (JCF) is supporting Sandhya’s education and other finances.

Sandhya is currently pursuing a graduate degree in Sports Management from the George Group of Colleges, Kolkata. Her days are spent waking up early, training students in her village, and then self training for the remaining hours. “I wake up at 6 am,” she says, adding, “I miss sleeping. If I get one day to myself, I spend it all just sleeping.”

She also says she doesn’t follow any particular diet or nutrition regime. “I eat whatever I please, and burn all the calories by running a lot. The diet does not affect my game,” she chuckles.

Watch Sandhya speak how Rugby changed her life.

Sandhya wants every girl in rural India to fight societal prejudices. “Girls should focus on what they wish to achieve, and find someone who can support them through it. It always helps if the parents are supportive too. I would not have achieved what I wanted without the support of mine,” she tells The Better India.

The young rugby player also wishes for the government to promote the sport and provide financial assistance for better performance of the team. “Many aspiring players drop out due to lack of funds. If supported, we can achieve a lot more,” she says.

Harinder Singh, general manager at JCF, says the village now knows what rugby is, and people have begun prioritising sports and education. “When we started in 2013, the passing percentage of Class X students was less than 30 per cent. In 2020, it increased to over 65 per cent,” he says. He adds, “As for Sandhya, her life journey is a true representation of what unstoppable means. She truly deserves the title.”

The date 19 January 2021 will long remain in the minds of a billion Indian cricket fans as the day when the Indian team secured their greatest Test match victory against Australia at the Brisbane Cricket Ground (The Gabba). This was a team ravaged by injury, without its captain/star batsman Virat Kohli and with a third-string bowling unit.

Despite all the hurdles put before them, they won this Test match, the first match Australia has lost at The Gabba in 32 years, by three wickets and clinched the series 2-1 in Australia’s own backyard. Led by stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane, this team combatted everything that came at them. One look at the backgrounds of some of the young stars who stepped up for India in this match and it isn’t surprising how they could withstand all that pressure.

Here are seven such cricket stars who made their mark in this Test match:

Mohammed Siraj: The fast bowler from Hyderabad, who picked up five wickets in Australia’s first innings, lost his father Mohammed Ghouse to a lung ailment just before the Test series began.

“My dad’s wish was always this — mera beta, desh ka naam roshan karna (my son, you should make my country proud). And, I will do that for sure,” said the fast bowler in an interview with Sportstar.

Siraj, the son of an uneducated auto rickshaw driver, spent his childhood playing galli cricket in the narrow bylanes of Toli Chowki in Hyderabad. From ruling the bylanes of Toli Chowki to destroying the Australian batting line up at The Gabba with his fiery pace, he has come a long way.

Shubman Gill: The dashing opening batsman from Chak Jaimal Singh Wala village near Jalalabad, Punjab, struck a crucial and elegant 91 runs and set up the foundation for India’s remarkable second-innings chase of 324. For Shubman to reach where he is today, his father, Lakhwinder, a farmer, left with his son for Mohali when he was just 7 years old.

“I grew up in a small village in Punjab where my dad began coaching me from a very young age. To make sure I practised cricket every day, he’d call the neighbours’ kids to bowl — bribing them to take me out, but they never could! I won my first cricket match when I was 9 years old. It was just a local match, but I can never forget how it felt! Dad always believed that I’d make a good batsman someday. So when I was 7, we moved to Mohali — where I could get more opportunities to play,” he told Humans of Bombay.

T Natarajan: From Chinnappampatti village, which is 35 km away from Salem city in Tamil Nadu, to making his Test debut for India at The Gabba, Natarajan has endured an extraordinary journey. The son of a power loom worker and road-side shop owner, this left-arm seamer from the interiors of Tamil Nadu was first noticed by A Jayaprakash, a small businessman and friend from Salem.

“In my younger days, I used to play tennis ball cricket in my hometown. I would play under Jayaprakash anna and he had a friend who used to play for BSNL in the TNCA fourth division league and also played tennis ball cricket with us. He was the one who saw the talent in me and told Jayaprakash anna that I have a good future in it and asked me to give it a try. Jayaprakash anna convinced me to join the club. If not for him, I would have been working somewhere else. If I wasn’t a cricketer, I would be a coolie to take care of my livelihood,” he told Sportskeeda in an interview.

Washington Sundar: Years from now, if someone were to ask me two moments that defined this Test match, it would be the two sixes Washington Sundar hit in this Test Match — one of spinner Nathan Lyon in the first innings and one of fast bowler Pat Cummins in the second innings. Both shots evoked a calm confidence about this team’s ability to overcome massive hurdles under pressure. As a teenager, he too overcame his personal obstacle to make it to the highest levels of international cricket. He almost didn’t make it as a cricketer.

At the age of 17, following a difficult maiden Ranji Trophy season for Tamil Nadu, he was dropped from his state team for the Syed Mushtaq Ali tournament. “I honestly did fear a lot about how my life was going to be, how my career was going to be, where am I going to end up in the next five years? I did have a lot of fear,” he said in an interview with The Telegraph. But he had the strength to continue and make his mark on Indian cricket.

Rishabh Pant: With a 23 in the first innings and an 89 not out in the second, Rishabh took India home to its greatest Test match victory in recent memory.

A batsman of great courage and panache, Rishabh began his journey of playing for India by travelling with his mother on a night bus to Delhi from Roorkee in Uttarakhand every weekend. In Delhi, he and his mother would find shelter in a Gurdwara at Moti Bagh, where they would spend the night. In the morning, he would go off and practice at the Sonnet cricket academy, while his mother would serve food at the Gurdwara.

“There were lots of such struggles in those days. My mother would not even sleep in the bus. Night bus journeys in India aren’t safe for women but she would make sure I get some sleep before practice,” he told The Indian Express.

Shardul Thakur: A bowling all-rounder who proved his mettle in this Test match, Thakur began his journey travelling 90 km everyday from his home in Palghar to Mumbai on a train. Starting his day at 3.30 am, he would catch the train at 4 am and arrive at the ground by 7.30 am. He was also once dropped by the Mumbai Under-19 team for being overweight, a fact that even his idol, Sachin Tendulkar, pointed out, according to Scroll.in. After a forgettable first class season with Mumbai, he shed 13 kilos and transformed himself into one of India’s most promising young fast bowlers.

Navdeep Saini: Although an injury hampered his performance in this Test match, the very fact that he even made it this far is a testament to his character. Growing up, his father who was a driver for Haryana government officials, could not afford expensive cricket coaching for his son.

To fund his cricket dreams, Saini played exhibition tennis ball matches at Rs 200 to Rs 300 per match. He used that money to enroll in try-outs of the Karnal Premier League, organised by Delhi seamer Sumit Narwal. After he was spotted by the Delhi cricketer, it was former India opener Gautam Gambhir who really encouraged his talent.

(Edited by Yoshita Rao)

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In August 2018, Karan Singh, a native of New Delhi, established the Indian Track Foundation in Ooty with one dream — to train kids to win medals for India in the 2028 LA Olympics, and beyond. For years, he himself nurtured the dream of representing his country in athletics, but a series of knee injuries and surgeries cut short his aspirations.

Undeterred, Karan has been using all the things he learned while spending six years in the US — one of the best places for middle and long-distance running in the world — for promoting promising talent in middle and long-distance running from the remotest tribal hamlets of Jharkhand.

While in Eugene, Karan learned that there were many differences in the way athletes were trained in India versus how they were in America. Simultaneously, he was part of the Indian National Camp in 2011. He would return to India and visit Bengaluru. This, he says, was cathartic. “I had this realisation that there are many athletes in our country who are much younger than me, and far more talented,” the 34-year-old tells The Better India, adding, “If I were to take them to the US and train them, they would have a much better shot than me in achieving things for the country.”

He says that at the National Camp, living with fellow athletes made him realise how differently athletes were coached in the US. “Everything is more structured there. The system is in place. Out here, athletes don’t really know what’s going on, it’s like they’re just running without a plan in place. They don’t have the facilities to realise their own potential, and there’s a lack of direction that’s provided to them,” Karan says, adding he was aware that flying athletes to the US won’t be the most feasible option.

An epiphany

In 2012, while he was at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Karan saw Arjuna awardees Preeja Sreedharan and Kavita Raut, get overlapped on the track. “These were the best athletes in India, but they couldn’t compete with the best in the world. I felt terrible, because that’s not their fault. It’s the system. You can’t just say that the girls are not good enough — you have to dig deep into why it happens. They were just ferried to the US and left in an unknown environment. Someone needed to guide and direct them,” he recalls.

This was Karan’s epiphany. “Sometimes, you get a calling in life to make a change,” he says.

In 2013, he returned to India with a mission. Here, he started the Indian Track Club in Delhi in August the same year to train athletes in the city. The programme was built on what he had observed in the US. “I just wanted to get kids to run. Back then, there wasn’t much happening for Indian runners in terms of opportunities. There’s a difference between running in school and representing your country,” he says.

To change the current state of track and field running, Karan knew something special had to be done. “There was never a process in place like there is for, say, cricket. Today, if Virat Kohli retires, there will be another one ready to take his place. That’s how robust the system is for that sport. I wanted to do that for running,” he says.

‘A life in the mountains’

While he jumped into the venture head first, he was overwhelmed by the response. “Hundreds of kids wanted to be coached by me,” he recalls. “Kids from all walks of life came in. Some did really well at the state and national levels. But even then, I knew the Olympics was a far away dream. Of course, I was proud of what we were doing, but when it came to winning medals for India, we still had work to do.”

In 2015, Karan developed a scouting programme, specifically with the aim of bringing in kids from outside Delhi. For this, he zeroed in on five children from Chiraigaon, a small village outside Varanasi. He brought them to Delhi and covered all their expenses, and set them up in a house near his place in Gurgaon. But the plan didn’t work out in the long run.

Disheartened but not willing to give up, Karan reached out to one of his coaches in the US. “I explained my dream to him, told him I was aware of the immense talent in India, but had no idea how to utilise it to its fullest potential. He told me I needed to go and live in the mountains, and like a monk. He said I needed to take that plunge, and dedicate my entire life to it. I had to actually make it, not just reach the top,” he says.

This helped Karan realise he needed to step out of his comfort zone. Over the next two years, he slowly arrived at the decision to move to the hills. He also used this time to go on various scouting trips, and reach out to children who came from humble backgrounds and could be worked with in the long term. It took a lot of research and time commitment. Finally, Karan moved to Ooty with his wife in 2018.

“I wanted to reach out to kids in even the most remote parts of the country. In 2018, I set up the Indian Track Foundation (ITF), and reached out to a few kids from Daltonganj in Jharkhand. We zeroed in on five children,” he says.

The athletes, aged between 10 and 16 years, were all put up in the same house. Karan and his wife took care of their expenses, including their education, while raising their own children. A year later, five more children were enrolled. The kids progressed fast. Karan had spent three years building a strong base for them, and within a year, the kids won in the state meet, and one even became a national champion. The funding for this endeavour was raised through donations by friends and acquaintances, and by Karan and his wife themselves. After the first six months or so, they raised funds through CSR.

Home away from home

Apart from the kids, Karan has also recruited 21-year-old Sabyani Surin, who everyone affectionately calls Saby. She acts as both a “warden” for the kids, as well as an assistant coach at ITF. “She’s like an elder sister to these kids,” Karan says.

Saby belongs to Musurmu village in Jharkhand. “When coach isn’t here, I train the kids, look after their food and other needs. I’ve been training with him since 2018. I love it here. In fact, whenever coach isn’t here, I don’t feel nice,” she tells The Better India.

Fifteen-year-old Walter Kandulna, who is also from Musurmu, is the team’s leading athlete. With help from ITF, in 2019, he was the Tamil Nadu State Champion in 2000m, a record he himself broke this year. In 2020, he also was the National Cross Country Champion. Like all members of his team, Walter hasn’t gone back home since March last year, when COVID-19 began. But he doesn’t miss home too much, he says. “Initially, being away from my parents was hard. But living with a coach is like living with my parents. It doesn’t feel like we’re away from home and I enjoy training here,” he adds.

Karan adds that he faced no resistance from parents when he told them he’ll be taking the kids to Ooty to train. “We found a lot of good local support. The locals make all the decisions in these areas. We spent around six to eight months coaching them about the entire process, telling them about our goal of training them to run in the Olympics, and how we would be going about it. Everyone was on board,” Karan says.

Young and unafraid

Speaking of his knee surgeries, Karan says he never viewed them as hindrances. In fact, his first knee injury is what pushed him down the path of running, he says. “I first injured my knee while practising the long jump in school. I did it incorrectly, and fell and buckled my knee. When this happened, I was part of the junior state cricket team. I loved cricket, but was always aware that it wasn’t my calling. Due to my injury, I had to take a year off to rehabilitate. This gave me a lot of time to think. I thought of Steve Prefontaine, an American long distance runner that I really admire, whose one leg is shorter than the other. That year gave me a major push towards track and field. So had that injury not happened, I might never have decided to dedicate my career to running,” he adds.

Because Karan had already formed a base in cricket, his athletic training kept getting subsequently harder. “The injuries kept coming back to back. I started too late, the training wasn’t enough, among many other reasons,” he says, adding, “But I never thought of it as a hindrance. Looking back, I realise now that with my injuries, I was never going to make it. But when you’re young, you think nothing can stop you, and I persevered. If I had stopped, the opportunities I got would have never happened,” he says.

Karan’s heartfelt endeavour to mentor and coach talent from the deepest and most unreachable corners of the country comes from the need to provide these kids with a figure he himself lacked at their age. “I just thought about how, when I was younger, if someone like a scout had reached out to direct me towards an athletics programme, I might’ve been somewhere else today,” he says. With this thought in mind, he’s going to great lengths to ensure that the 10 kids under him don’t look back on life with the same question.

For more information, one can visit Coach Karan’s Instagram, as well as that of ITF.

Edited by Yoshita Rao

In many parts of India, families grieve when a daughter is born. She may spend all her life under a veil and with the sole purpose of getting married and then birthing and caring for children.

Fighting this very idea are 55 girls from Laxmipur village of Siwan district in Bihar. Battling insults, resistance, and old stereotypes, these young girls are training in sports at the Rani Laxmibai Sports Academy, under the guidance of their geography teacher and coach, Sanjay Pathak.

Just like the girls he is training, the 47-year-old government school teacher had to fight many battles. He provides training free of cost and his efforts and sacrifices have produced 70 national and international players in football, handball, athletics, and other sports over the past 10 years.

Sanjay is not a formal coach, and is doing this out of pure passion for grooming young talent in his region. His journey to becoming a sports coach began in 2009, after he was posted to Adarsh government middle school in the village.

Village girls go global

Sanjay tells The Better India that in early 2009, two girls, Tara and Putul Khatoon, wanted to participate in the local sports tournament. It took them some time to convince Sanjay, who eventually agreed to register them. To his surprise, the girls won a gold medal in athletics. They also participated in the Panchayat Yuva Khel Abhiyan at the district and state levels, and earned gold, silver and bronze in different categories.

This incident compelled Sanjay to think beyond conventional academic teaching.“I thought if the girls performed so well without any coaching, there must be many such others in the village. I felt it was my duty to enable holistic development of students and extend my role from academic teaching. I started training them before and after school hours,” he says.

Sanjay began training the girls on the school ground. Inspired by Tara and Putul, other girls soon joined. Over the next couple of months, around 100 girls from the village joined him to play football, rugby, handball and for athletics. Sanjay started learning about football from YouTube and other online media. “The girls toiled hard in fields, and had great stamina, endurance, and strength. But they lacked skills, so I began grooming them, even though I was never a sports person myself,” he says.

By 19 November 2009, Sanjay had a girls’ football team ready to compete at district and state levels. The girls went on to play in several competitions and earned recognition.

One of them was Amrita Kumari, who played football in the Under-14 category in France and Sri Lanka in 2013. She later qualified for and headed the Under-16 national team. Nisha Kumari was chosen in the Under-14 national football team in 2015.

Sanjay also focussed on preparing a team in handball and athletics. Usha Kumari was one of the girls, and won a silver in 400 metres in Haridwar in 2015 and 2016. The list goes on, and these players have represented India in Nepal, Tajikistan, Beirut, Lebanon and other national sports competitions.

In January 2019, Sanjay also opened a trust to seek donations. He says with the amount of resistance and opposition they faced from the village, he could never expect any financial support from locals or family members. “I used my salary to sponsor food, travel, and other expenses. Whenever I would spend on, say, buying a pair of shoes for one player, need for another pair, or a football, would arise. I sold my gold rings to fund their coaching. I requested my wife to mortgage her gold, worth Rs 35,000, for construction of the building,” he recalls, adding, “As expenses scaled, family members asked if I was serving the nation, or making my family bankrupt.”

Their trust was restored when Sanjay was finally able to seek financial assistance from outside. People began making tiny donations like giving footballs, shoes, and even Rs 100 or so at times. In recent years, organisations from the UK, Netherlands and the US have donated money.

Despite the incredible achievements of this team, both Sanjay and the girls have had to face severe backlash from their community.

Despite harassment and dehumanisation

“People criticised me for coaching only girls, and questioned my character. Villagers and colleagues asked me why I was making girls wear clothes meant for boys. ‘Why are they wearing short clothes?’ they would ask. They even alleged that I was spoiling the girls and culture of the village by asking them to make a career in sports,” Sanjay says.

The teacher feels that the perception of villagers is wrong. “They saw the girls wearing shorts and t-shirts. They questioned their character. But no one saw the girls training in torn shoes or with a worn-out football. Nobody observed their sweating or the lack of facility they had,” he says, adding that no one came to help them become independent.

Youngsters from the village harassed the girls, eve teased, and even sang vulgar songs. “The school playground where the girls practised was littered with waste and broken glass bottles to demoralise them. However, we would start again by cleaning the ground,” he says.

Fearing the safety of the players, Sanjay convinced his family to dedicate 2 acres of the 5-acre agricultural land to train them. The land was converted into a football ground. A building with a capacity to host 30 girls came up in December 2020. The building has a dormitory, kitchen and other facilities. It was named Rani Laxmibai Sports Academy. “I cannot provide luxurious amenities to the girls, but it is better than having nothing. I spend Rs 130 per plate on each student, but the government recommends a diet worth Rs 225. Their diet includes jaggery, peanuts, eggs, chicken, fish, dal, dalia (porridge), and other nutritional food,” he adds.

Sanjay also says that not every girl makes it big in the field of sports. “If they do not excel, they try to find a government job or study. I teach them and support them in education by paying their fees. Some players, who otherwise would have got married, have received government jobs,” he adds.

A dream beyond marriage

One such example is of Radha Kumari, who lost her father when she was studying in Class VI. “Initially, my family supported me to play as a part of school activities. But as travelling for competitions increased, so did restrictions. I also endured many beatings from my family members to pursue handball. Sanjay sir supported me throughout and convinced them to let me continue sports. I represented the national handball team and I am now a grade B national referee,” she says.

Radha was also recruited in the district administration at Siwan through sports quota.

Amrita Kumari says, “My home is next to the ground where sir conducted football training. I used to watch the girls play every day, and on one occasion, he asked if I would like to join. My mother supported me initially, thinking that I would play until 15 years of age and then get married.”

She says her father and grandmother never supported her, and thought it was not good for their reputation, as playing football involved playing in shorts. “The game did not earn money initially, and spending on a girl is not a practice in the family. It took a lot of convincing from sir and pleading from my end before they let me pursue the game,” she tells The Better India, and adds, “I am 21 years old, and without the game, my family would have married me off five years ago. I have borrowed a few more years to play in the senior category.

Sanjay says that every girl getting training has a struggle story. “Many girls have poor financial conditions, no educational background, and no support from family. During the initial days, they lived in a cramped space with torn bed sheets and blankets. They have fought all odds to achieve success,” he adds.

‘For the cause of nation-building’

The situation has since improved for the academy, as they received support from Dream Sports in November 2020. “Many athletes and players were affected during the COVID-19 pandemic, and we were looking for players who needed help. Sanjay’s work was impressive. Hence, we decided to provide some funds to help the players in training. Plans are under way to bring in international coaches and monthly scholarships for the players,” says Neha Sharma, CSR manager for Dream Sports.

Sanjay says the money received has helped the players immensely. “The girls played with a single pair of shoes for one year. Now they can have three pairs of branded shoes, and the kits that are needed for a national-level player. The money will also help provide better nutrition,” he adds.

What does he gain from all this? “Without education and sports, these girls stare at an uncertain future. As a teacher, I must serve the cause of nation-building. I have been doing this for over a decade, without help from the government. I do not expect these girls to earn and take care of me in my retirement days. I want them to show gratitude by supporting the academy and help other girls earn a dignified and independent life,” he adds.

Edited by Divya Sethu

A woman taking up a male-dominated sport comes with its own set of challenges. Delhi-based Rishitaa Jain is only 17, but is already privy to this. The Class XII student of Prudence School is a professional powerlifter, and the winner of four gold medals, which she received at the Commonwealth Powerlifting Championships, held in Canada in 2019. She was the youngest representative in the Indian team.

Rishitaa’s journey began when she started accompanying her father to the gym at the age of 15 to maintain a fit lifestyle. While her trainer assigned simple exercises that consisted of cardio and strength training, she found herself fascinated by how her father and other gym members would lift heavyweights. She expressed her interest to her parents, and Rishitaa began training under a professional.

Today Rishitaa is carving her own niche in the male-dominated world of sports, but getting here was not easy.

‘Strength and discipline’

Rishitaa was involved in various sports, both indoors and outdoors, from a very young age. She practised gymnastics for a few years and was part of her school’s football team. When she was 15 years old, she joined Fitness Castle, a gym in Karol Bagh, where her father exercised regularly.

“Since I was part of the football team, I would do some extra training at the gym to improve my game. On the second day of training, I saw my father strapping on safety gear, gloves, and walking towards a bar that had more than 60 kilos of weights attached to it,” says Rishitaa, adding that she was fascinated by how he could carry such heavy weights.

For the next few days, she continued watching other gym members lift weights and finally approached her trainer — Javed Mehta, an international powerlifter and the owner of the gym. “I explained to him that I was interested in the sport and wanted to try it out. He knew that I had the potential to excel, and agreed to train me,” says Rishitaa.

Her parents — Rishi and Swetha — were also supportive of her decision. Swetha, who had trained and competed in Judo during her school days, believes that every child must train in some sport because it gives them strength and discipline.

Training and competing as a powerlifter

In April 2017, Rishitaa began her training to become a powerlifter.

“Though I was involved in physical activities, my body was not fit enough to lift heavyweights. So, my coach began by improving my strength, which includes exercising regularly for two hours, and keeping a strict watch on my diet. But for the first few months, I would have many cheat days because I’d be tempted to eat junk food or skip training for a day,” says Rishitaa.

However, she persevered. In December 2017, her coach told her that she was ready to power lift, and Rishitaa was excited. She strapped on her safety gear, wore her gloves, and stood behind a 60-kilogram rod.

“I was asked to do a deadlift, which means lifting the weights off the ground and holding them above the knees for a specific amount of time. I was able to pick up the 60 kilos and hold it up to 10 seconds,” says Rishitaa, adding that since that day, she has been lifting weights every day.

In May 2018, Rishitaa participated in her first state-level powerlifting match at Kanpur. She won a bronze medal and soon went on to participate in several other state-level and national-level competitions, where she won a gold, silver or bronze.

Her daily schedule began with going to school in the morning, and to the gym in the evening. But, sometimes when she had a competition nearing, she would have to attend training in the morning and skip school.

“My parents talked to my principal about my training, and he was delighted to provide necessary support to help me balance studies and sports. If I have a tournament during an examination, the school allows me to take it at a later date. This gives me ample time to catch up on portions and prepare for the test,” says Rishitaa.

Dr C B Mishra, the director and principal of Prudence School, Delhi says that they were happy to offer their full support, because Rishitaa is a hardworking student.

He says, “Rishitaa gives her 100% to both academics and sports. When she went to Canada, her class teachers kept track of the study material being taught during her absence and helped her catch up once she returned. Some teachers cleared doubts for Rishitaa even over phone calls.”

‘No one will marry you’

When Rishitaa began her training, many of her relatives expressed their concerns to her parents. “They were worried that if I lift heavy weights, I would bulk up or look manly, and no one would marry me. Even in school, some of my classmates would tease me saying that heavy lifting was a sport for men and girls cannot lift weights,” says Rishitaa.

Without taking any of these comments to heart, Rishitaa’s parents continued to support her, and Rishitaa never let the criticism bring her down. Instead, she trained harder and broke any misconceptions that those around her had about women powerlifting.

In 2019, at the age of 16, Rishitaa was selected as one of the youngest members to represent India at the Commonwealth Powerlifting Championship.

“I travelled to Canada for the tournament with my father and other team members from India. I was extremely nervous before my first round of matches. But my mentors and other senior team members such as Vishwanath Baskar and Arthi Arun gave me pep talks and reassured me that I can do it,” says Rishitaa, adding that it was this motivation that helped her win four gold medals, each in different categories.

Today, Rishitaa is in her Class XII, but continues to train and participate in competitions held in India.

She says, “My journey was strenuous and challenging, but I am thankful for having my parents’ and mentors’ consistent support. I know that many women across the world aren’t allowed to play a sport because of gender stereotypes. I urge these people to pursue their dreams no matter what others say. Because no one can stop you, and definitely not those who think women are the weaker sex.”

Last March, while the rest of the country was in lockdown, two villages inhabited by the Kuki and Thankgkul Naga tribes, respectively, in Kamjong district, Manipur, were suffering an ordeal of another kind. The Kukis from the Chassad village and the Tangkhul Nagas from the Sampui village have been engaged in a violent feud over decades-long land dispute. This resulted in armed attacks, burnt down jhum fields, homes and looting of household goods.

Such clashes capture the hostility that has existed between both tribes since colonial times. Suffice it to say, these hostilities revolve primarily over land rights, and more importantly, these clashes in the state aren’t limited to these two tribes or communities. In such a context, it does beg the question, what possibilities can sports create in a region which has historically witnessed different ethnic conflicts, bloodshed and violence?

Mathanmi Hungyo, the founder of Recognize Rise and Empower Association (RREA)—a non-profit which is working towards delivering quality education in Manipur’s border villages—and Rohit Agarwal, a programme director with RREA, explored that possibility in early 2018.

After all, this is a state which has consistently produced elite athletes ranging from Ngangom Bala Devi, the first Indian woman to become a professional footballer who currently plies her trade at Scottish giants Rangers FC to champion amateur boxers like MC Mary Kom and Dingko Singh, and weightlifting legends like Mirabai Chanu.

Tapping into the sporting potential of the state, RREA started an initiative called Sports For Social Development in 2018. They piloted the initiative by collaborating with Tata Trust to launch Manipur’s first grassroots football centre in Kamjong High School. The intention behind this centre was to create a space for children to come and play.

Speaking to The Better India, the 27-year-old Mathanmi Hungyo, who identifies as a Tangkhul Naga, remembers growing up in Imphal city as a minority.

“At school, you could feel the tension and hostility that existed between different communities in terms of how we sat together in class and how we made friends. But on the field, where I loved playing football, we would unite irrespective of which tribe or community we came from. Our only objective was winning and playing the game. Taking note of my personal experience and thinking about our people, who love playing sports, we felt this could be a medium to strengthen our sense of fraternity. A lot of our personal experiences went into developing this programme because we could see how sports could unite us by offering us spaces where we can come together,” notes Mathanmi.

“The pilot programme in 2018 created a monumental impact on developing children’s interest in sports. Many children started participating at the centre. Aside from marginally improving student attendance and enrolment, the most interesting outcome of this initiative was that children from different tribes started playing and interacting with each other. Leaving aside their identity-based differences, which have roots in historical clashes between different tribes in the strife-torn region, sports became a tool of conflict mitigation and peace-building among the students,” claims Rohit.

Breaking barriers through sports

Upon seeing the positive impact of their grassroots football centre at Kamjong High School, over more than one and half years, Mathanmi and Rohit felt a more comprehensive approach was required in their Sports for Social Development initiative. One which would encompass other aspects of children’s education.

Thus, in early 2020, the RREA expanded its grassroots football programme to other government schools—Phungyar Higher Secondary School and Kasom Khullen High School—and included other sports like volleyball, badminton, table tennis and even carrom for those interested in outdoor games.

Funded by the Kochi-based Anaha Trust, the programme also covered elements like developing play spaces in schools. This employs a more participatory approach where school, children, and community become equal participants in developing play spaces. Apart from this, the program intends to increase children’s attendance in school, support their learning competencies and enhance the scope for personality development. It also supplements RREA’s Teach For Northeast Fellowship program.

“These schools are located in places driven by underdevelopment, insurgency, conflict and violence. Therefore, the value of sports is very high. Children from poor and marginalised backgrounds undergo different mental health issues, social dysfunction, and many other issues which affect their ability to learn. In such a context, a mediator like sports can actually ensure children’s right to quality education. The influence of sports on character formation and social cohesion has direct bearing on peaceful attitudes. It also helps children to better express themselves in the process. Self-awareness is an important life skill which children often develop through sports,” argues Rohit.

These elements evidently have a bearing on achieving peace between different communities, an essential objective for any initiative seeking social change.

“Sports offers a platform where children from different ethnic groups participate together to play and interact. This has led to building peace amongst each other. These children would otherwise remain in their own social groups when inside a classroom. But with the advent of our sports programme, their interest in playing with each other has grown. Sports has helped break these social barriers and encouraged children to interact with each other,” he adds.

Inspiring youth, inspiring generations

Driving the RREA’s initiative in these schools are 14 members of the organisation and sports educators, who have left behind good opportunities to return home and make a difference.

Take the example of Viso Shimray, a certified All India Football Federation (AIFF) ‘D’ licensed sports coach, who has previously worked with the Baichung Bhutia Football Academy in Delhi. Viso has come back to Manipur to be around his community in Kamjong and help the children through Sports.

“These educators are passionate youth who come from local communities. The idea is to invest and build capacity of the local youth so that the intervention remains sustainable. Also, these youth can inspire and become role models for the children as they would be able to relate with the local people more than someone from outside,” says Rohit.

The educators are qualified to conduct sports training and have prior experience in the field. They are both graduates and hold a masters degree in physical education. One of their educators, for example, completed his Masters degree from National Sports University.

“Sports sessions at these three schools extend for three-four days in a week, although earlier it was for all school days. But our sports educators felt that students needed regular breaks for physical recovery. Today, these sessions last for about 1.5 hours after school. They are coached for an hour and then play for another 30 minutes. Besides football, there is volleyball, badminton and table tennis. For those not interested in outdoor sports, we give them facilities to play games like carrom board. These students can choose whatever sport they want, but most girls and boys love football. Our project schools also participate in local sports tournaments. One of the schools, Phungyar Higher Secondary School, will host the upcoming inter-district sports competition,” says Mathanmi.

Recently, the Kamjong High School boys football team were awarded the ‘Best Team’ in a district-level school tournament thanks to their fine performances on the pitch. The team is now getting invitations for other tournaments organised at the State level.

Assisting the RREA is the district administration, which has extended their full support.

“We have received total cooperation from the district administration, but no monetary aid. For the recent Border Area Development Programme, a centrally sponsored scheme implemented by the State government, the local district administration has sent a proposal to better equip indoor badminton and basketball courts at these schools. Although the proposal hasn’t been approved yet, they have expressed a genuine desire to help us build the necessary sports-related infrastructure for these schools,” adds Mathanmi.

The boys and girls who love football

Hanminao Malung, a student of Kamjong High School from Bungpa Khullen village, talks about how football has become a genuine medium for self-expression. Before the initiative took shape, she talks about how girls would mostly roam around the corridor or talk amongst their groups during their free time in school or recess. But thanks to educators like Viso, she found a platform to express herself through sports.

“One of the best things about sports in our school is our sports educator. Viso Sir provided us with all the necessary equipment and guidance to play sports. He also teaches us the health benefits of playing sports which no one told me before. Before our new sports educator, we were very hesitant to play sports. We felt that only boys would play sports like football. But our sports educators have also made girls play football. I like it when he brings together both boys and girls into mixed groups to play sports. Besides raising my confidence, the best part of playing football is the friends I have made,” she says.

Mangjalen Haokip, a 13-year-old boy from Chassad village, has always devoted himself to football. He was among the first students to join the sports programme at Kamjong High School in 2018. Prior to it, he played on his village playground without any guidance. Much to their credit, his parents have really encouraged him to pursue his interest in the sport.

“There have been various improvements in me personally and socially after attending the sports sessions. I am more open, confident and motivated. Thanks to sports, I have made many friends from other tribes, which I think helps the larger society,” he says.

Besides technique and skill, Mangjalen says that the football programme has taught him good manners, how to maintain a positive attitude and respect for punctuality.

“One of the biggest impacts of our initiative has been that children from different tribes started playing and interacting together. Children from different tribes are getting along well with each other and communicating in English. Before it was very common to see children interacting only with students from their tribes and speaking in their respective dialects. Also, during these sporting activities, it has been observed that children are now more supportive and accepting towards appointment of captains/other leadership positions towards students from other tribes. This change in the mindset of students and positive behavior development is the most rewarding impact of our initiative,” says Mathanmi.

Another significant impact has been improvement in school attendance. According to the RREA’s own findings, as a result of their intervention across the three government schools, 484 students (240 students – Phungyar High School, 170 students – Kamjong High School, 74 students – Kasom Khullen High School) who would earlier attend class less than 40 percent of the time now have attendance levels averaging over 80 per cent. Meanwhile, for the upcoming academic year, there are 200 students looking to enrol in Phungyar High School alone thanks to their sports development programme.

“The openness of these sports programmes encouraged school-going children to participate in the sport of their choice irrespective of their individual skills and talent levels. Apart from the three project government schools with around 500 direct student beneficiaries, RREA’s sports program is also supporting close to another 500 children from other community schools through sports. In total, we are impacting close to 1000 children. These 500 children are part of other community schools that also come to participate in the sports program. The number of these community schools varies in the range of 12-14 in number with a mix of private, government aided and government schools,” says Rohit.

“Any child who does not have access to play spaces lacks the opportunity to develop holistically. Thus, creation of play spaces in schools provides children with an opportunity to network, socialise and interact with each other. They are now able to establish positive relationships with their peer groups and students from other tribes. In addition, children are able to form a positive self-image, thereby allowing themselves to accept the way they are. This gives children a better understanding of values like empathy where they are no longer judging others. Instead, they are cooperating and supporting each other,” says Mathanmi.

(Edited by Yoshita Rao)

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This article has been sponsored by Welspun Foundation for Health & Knowledge.

Early mornings, endless hours of training, aching wounds and countless sacrifices — being an athlete is much more than the medals and the glory that comes with it.

But for a woman, these challenges double down when discrimination and gender stereotypes come into play. At that point, it is not only about the backbreaking hard work but also the unrelenting perseverance to break the glass ceiling and fight for the opportunity they truly deserve.

To ensure that such talent is not lost due to lack of access or opportunity, Welspun Foundation for Health & Knowledge started the Welspun Super Sport Women Program (WSSW) to empower female athletes in India. Their focus is to guide and promote promising young sportswomen through mentorships and financial assistance across the various stages of their athletic journeys right from the grassroots, national to even international levels.

At its core, the foundation honours and celebrates the unshakable spirit of young female athletes who have braved challenges to emerge victorious. Here are some of them:

1. Palak Kohli

Almost five years ago, while attempting to play handball with her friends in school, a teacher had cautioned Palak Kohli about going into sports because of her birth deformity in her left hand.

“She said that I might hurt my other arm as well and that it was not something meant for me. I was to concentrate on studies and later use quotas for the disabled for college applications and then a job. The idea that someone else decides a fate for me or tells me what I am meant to do, deeply bothered me,” says Palak, who till then had almost no exposure to sports.

A year later in 2017, she started training to play badminton and in 2020 became the world’s youngest para-badminton player to qualify for the Tokyo Paralympics.

Talking about what changed her life, the 18-year-old para-athlete recalls, “I didn’t choose badminton, it was as if the game chose me. One day, while coming out of a mall with my mother, a stranger approached us inquiring about my left arm. He then went on to tell me about para-badminton and how I could be perfect for it. He shared his contact for consideration and left. Although it was a random incident, it stayed with me because this stranger was the first person to say that I had the potential to be more. Months later, I approached him and this man, Gaurav Khanna agreed to coach me and change my life forever.”

Today, she is the sports captain in the same school and has been training hard to excel in the upcoming 2021 Tokyo Paralympics.

2. Aarti and Jyoti Patil

Aarti and Jyoti, Mumbai’s wonder twin swimmers who have won 55 national medals at the young age of just 23, agree that being born into a family that wholeheartedly supports a strenuous career as an athlete is a blessing.

“We were about 9 -months-old when our father first introduced us to swimming. He is a great swimmer and in 2003 he completed a sea marathon in 13 hours and 10 minutes in Greece. He has always been an inspiration to us and watching him, we tried to accomplish a milestone by sea-swimming when we were just 4-years-old,” says Aarti, who has won 30 national medals so far.

In the Patil family, where every single member, from the parents to the children are ace swimmers, ‘swimming’ has grown to be more than just a sport. It is a way of life cultivated with discipline, hard work, patience and the spirit of sportsmanship.

“Our father works as a constable in Mumbai Police. Every day, after completing his night duty, he returns in the morning to dedicate himself to our training that starts from 6.30 am and continues till 11.00 am. The training starts again in the evening from 6.00 pm till 8.30 pm. This has been our constant routine for several years now and it is this discipline that has ensured all the wins we have managed so far,” adds Jyoti, who has 25 national medals to her name.

3. Suvarna Raj

“At every point in my life, I have had to fight — be it with my educational institutes to provide accessible spaces, or even the society to demand inclusivity. It’s a constant effort to create a better world for everyone,” says 39-year-old international para-athlete Suvarna Raj.

An inspiration for many across the country, she performs several roles—a mother, a para table tennis player, an activist, a social worker and an accessibility counsellor—all of which culminate into making her a true changemaker. Through her work in these different sectors, she has and continues to create a lasting impact.

“I knew that my life would be difficult at a very young age. I was two when polio-affected both my legs. Although that meant that I would be in a wheelchair, it didn’t discourage me from pursuing my passion for sports. My parents had admitted me to a hostel at a very young age, and throughout the whole decade that I spent there, I continued to work on myself. I would always remind myself that it was difficult but not impossible,” adds Suvarna, who has won several international accolades, including two medals at the Thailand Para Table Tennis Open 2013.

Not limiting her work to the court, she has spent several years advocating for accessibility in public spaces. Her efforts in this route won her the National Women Excellence Award in 2013 for Sports, the Karamveer Puraskar by ICONGO in 2015 and the prestigious National Centre for Promotion of Employment for Disabled People (NCPEDP) — Mphasis Universal Design Award (MUDA) in 2017.

“I am my own role model. When others doubt my potential, it fuels me further to do better and prove them wrong!” she adds.

The exemplary stories of these young women are testimony to the invisible battles won with sheer determination and courage. This legacy of positive change and inspiration is what WSSW, through its #LeapBeyond campaign, is hoping to create. It is a scholarship program that aims to empower the next generation of sportswomen to take the leap of success. Currently, they are providing scholarships to 27 female athletes from 14 different sports disciplines.

With #LeapBeyond the program has opened applications for sportswomen to apply and win a scholarship. Apply for the program here.

Over the last decade, motorsports have gained popularity in India, specifically in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, with the city being known as the Motorsports capital of the country. Thrill, speed, focus and adrenaline — these are all aspects that drive the sport. Shivani Pruthvi (23) and Deepti Pruthvi (51), a mother-daughter duo from Devangere in Karnataka, have been chasing this very high. The two have forayed into this predominantly male-dominated arena, and won several races.

Shivani is part of India’s First All-Women Racing Team, and a graduate of MBBS from SDM College of Medical Sciences. Her mother, Deepthi is a practising doctor and a professor at the SS Institute of Medical Science & Research Centre. She is also Shivani’s co-driver and navigator for rally races.

In a conversation with The Better India, the duo explains how and why they got into motorsports.

All work and no play

Shivani says she has been fond of sports since she was a child. At the age of 5, she learnt roller skating and went on to participate and win medals in state-level competitions. As she grew older, she learnt badminton, tennis, and was even part of the girl’s basketball team in high school. “I always enjoyed participating in extracurricular activities more than I did studies. It was a habit I imbibed from my father — BS Pruthvi, who was a rally racer in Bengaluru during the 90s,” says Shivani.

In 2018, during her second year of MBBS, Shivani was preparing for her semester exams. As there was a large amount of syllabus to be covered, she found herself devoid of time for any extracurricular activities. Instead, she dedicated three whole months before the exams to her education. However, she did not enjoy any part of the process.

“Those were stressful months. The day I finished my last exam for that semester, I went to my father and asked him if he would teach me how to race,” says Shivani, adding that her father started training her the same day.

Deepthi and Pruthvi agreed that Shivani needed to pursue a sport because she was involved in physical activities from a young age.

Born a racer

To see how Shivani would navigate through curves and uneven terrain at a high speed, Pruthvi took her to his cement-pipe making factory. In the open space surrounding the factory, he asked Shivani to drive his custom-made rally car. He even placed a few bikes in her route, but Shivani dodged and zoomed through them like a professional racer. This, Shivani says, was not the first time she had driven a race car. She says she was in Class IV when she first tried driving a car on a race track.

“Once I stepped out of the car, my father said, ‘If you drive the same way at a competition, you will walk out with the trophy’,” says Shivani, adding that his words gave her the confidence to enter competitions.

However, to compete as a rally racer, Shivani needed a co-driver who would give her instructions as she zoomed around the track. Trained navigators refused to help Shivani, for she was a rookie.

This is where her mother stepped in. Having spent several years in the 90s as a bystander cheering her husband during races, Deepthi understood the role of being a navigator. “One morning, my husband and I were on our morning walk, when he put forth the idea. I had full confidence in my daughter’s driving, so I volunteered to be her navigator. I trained one hour every day for a month,” says Deepthi.

Pruthvi, who trained her, says she was made to sit in an unventilated room wearing a seven-layer protective gear and a helmet.

“It was hard and stressful, but that has been my life as a doctor too. So I could manage it. Medicine has taught me how valuable time is and how every second is crucial. The same goes for racing, one small mistake from the navigator could lead to a crash,” says Deepthi.

In 2018, when Shivani was 19 years old, she participated in her first competition — Indian National Rally Championship (INRC) — held at Kochi. She placed second in the ladies category. Furthermore, the same year, Shivani joined India’s All-Women Racing Team, Ahura Racing, and won gold in Volkswagen India’s Ameo Cup.

Balancing her education and racing

As Shivani started participating in more races, a few of her close relatives raised their concerns. They were worried that she would be distracted from her education. One of her aunts told her how, without a proper education, Shivani’s future would be “hopeless”.

Deepthi says, “I remember watching my daughter get frustrated with her studies when she had no extracurricular activities. However, after she started racing, her performance in exams improved tremendously. I wish for her to continue sports because it is most beneficial for her.”

Despite motorsports being male-dominated, Shivani says she never faced any gender-based discrimination. Her fellow racers were supportive, and encouraged her during her races.

Shivani has now completed her MBBS degree and is preparing for her postgraduate studies. She practises driving over the weekends, during holidays, and a few days before a race.

Her next race is scheduled in a few weeks. Shivani says it is a cross-country race spanning over five days between Bengaluru and Chitradurga.

Ever since Amole Gupte’s directorial biopic, Saina, on ace badminton player, Saina Nehwal released, everyone — from the media to netizens — are talking about how well Parineeti Chopra has embodied Nehwal onscreen. Whether it is the body language, intensity on the court, clothes, the way she holds the racquet or the footwork — the resemblance is uncanny. 

But beyond commending the actors’ performance, it takes a lot more to get the elements of a biopic right. The makers, including the actors, have to be careful not to mock or mimic the main character. And the unsung heroes behind the scenes, working hard to authenticate every move of the central character, also deserve a mention.

Thane-based Shrikant Vad, the first Badminton World Federation (BWF) certified coach from India, was incharge of training Chopra to get the right moves. 

The recently released behind-the-scenes video of Vad training Chopra shows his dedication to the role. In another article, Gupte talks about making a film on Vad. 

“Vad Sir has been hiding behind a screen of anonymity for the last 32 years… picking students from challenged backgrounds and raising them in his modest house. They include eight Shiv Chhatrapati Award Winners,” he told the Hindustan Times in 2019. 

Vad is also a real-life hero who has changed innumerable lives by training underprivileged players for free. 

“I became a professional badminton player at 32 after quitting my well-paid job at a pharmaceutical company. I entered the sport late only because I had no guidance or mentor. So, I decided to become the coach that I wish I had. Society and people around me have given me a lot, and in order to give something in return, I decided to teach talented children who couldn’t afford coaching fees,” Vad, who is the founder and president of Thane Badminton Academy tells The Better India. 

Vad has religiously dedicated three decades of his life to nurture ace shuttlers and bring Thane district at par with the rest of India in terms of badminton rankings. He has taught thousands of students, of whom 500 come from low-income households. Sixteen of his students are national champions, 42 are international players (including Nehwal) and hundreds have played at the state level. 

“Way before Nehwal etched her name in the world of badminton, she had attended one of my camps. I was thrilled to see a player so hungry and focussed. I have seen all her matches and there is no one like her. Eshan Naqvi, a shuttler-turned coach who essays the role of Nehwal’s husband in the movie, is also my student,” the 65-year-old shares. 

‘Talent doesn’t see one’s economic status’

Born and raised in Thane, Vad’s life was on track till he entered his 30s. He completed his graduation and secured a well-paying job. His interest in badminton was limited to playing in college and his society complex. 

“Back in the ’60s, there was no infrastructure or professional coaching to pursue badminton in Thane. I was good in college so I continued playing local matches after I started working. I loved the sport and always wondered how I could be closer to it. Then in 1988 I got my chance. The municipal corporation was building Dadoji Kondadev Stadium and I wanted to be part of it by coaching beginners. The authorities agreed on the condition that I become a certified coach first. So, I took leave from my job and went to Patiala for the course. I also went on to play district and state matches during that period,” recalls Vad. 

At 32, he officially joined the association and quit his job with the sole purpose to create champions. His family, including his wife, wholeheartedly supported his decision to switch careers.

In 1992, the first batch of players trained under Vad was selected to play for India. Amrish Shinde, coach of the senior Indian team, was his first student to play in England and there was no looking back. 

A few years into coaching, Vad realised talent and hard work transcends all irrespective of one’s economic status and that’s how his hunt for deserving students from underprivileged backgrounds began. 

“There is a different kind of burning desire among kids who lack resources and opportunities to showcase their talent. They have so much to give and are so eager to learn. It pained me to see their dreams shatter even before they were given a platform. Taking them under my wing is the best decision I have made,” says Vad, who also provides shelter along with training to the ones who need it. Many of his students have stayed in his home for months. Akshay Dewalkar, a national champion, stayed at Vad’s house for 10 years. 

Vad is also coaching disabled players. Two of his students, Girish Sharma and Arati Patil, are paralympic players with commendable world rankings. 

Vad has received several laurels for his commendable work including the prestigious Dadaji Kondadev Award (Best Coach, 2003) and Samaj Shakti Puruskar (2011). 

When asked what qualities make for a player great, Vad says, “It takes nothing less than a combination of talent, desire and sacrifice to become a world badminton champion.” 

Edited by Yoshita Rao

Growing up, it was a tradition, of sorts, for the children in the neighbourhood to meet up after school in the bylanes with their rackets and shuttlecocks to play a game of badminton. Ever so often, the achievements of badminton star Saina Nehwal—who had become a flag-bearer of women’s badminton in India—crept into conversation.

Saina became the first-ever Indian badminton player to win an Olympic medal in 2012 and became an icon for millions of fans of the game. She is also the first female Indian player to achieve the feat of ranking first in the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Tour and has 24 international titles to her name. Throughout her journey, she had the support of her family, her coaches and her husband.

So, here’s a list of the unsung heroes who helped make Saina India’s badminton superstar.

Usha Rani

Saina’s mother, Usha Rani was a state-level badminton player in Haryana, too. As a child, she would watch her mother play. By the age of 8, she took up badminton to fulfill her mother’s dream of becoming a national level badminton player. Saina credits her success to her mother who has supported her from the very beginning.

“More than my dad, she is my main force and keeps me going with her constant motivational talks and encouragement. You need someone who you can confide in. For me, it’s my mother. I tell her everything, starting from what is making me happy or bothering me. I’ve all my emotional talks with her, I am closest to her,” Nehwal said in an interview with Hindustan Times.

Dr Harvir Singh Nehwal

Dr Harvir Singh Nehwal, Saina’s father is an agricultural scientist at the Directorate of Oilseeds Research, Hyderabad. During his studies at university, her father played badminton and was among the top players.

In 1998, after moving from Hissar, Haryana to Hyderabad, he took Saina to the Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad. It was then that Nani Prasad Rao, the badminton coach, saw her potential and convinced her father to enroll her in formal coaching. Every morning, Dr Singh would take Saina for coaching to the stadium, which was 20 kms away from their house. After her coaching sessions, he would drop her to school on the way to office. In order to purchase good quality equipment for Saina, her father would withdraw money from his savings and even his provident fund until 2002 when she first received sponsorship. Evidently, he made a number of sacrifices so that she could fulfil her dreams.

The coaches

Saina was mentored by a number of coaches who helped perfect her skills over the years.

Her first coach was Nani Prasad Rao who had first spotted her talent at the Lal Bahadur Stadium. At the time, he was the badminton coach of the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP). He selected Saina from a group of 250-odd kids. He coached her through her formative years when she was being recognised in the state-level badminton circuit. When he was transferred from Hyderabad to Vijayawada he was keen for her to join the academy there but her parents declined.

It was then that Saina came under the wing of S M Arif, the chief coach at the stadium. He was awarded the Dronacharya Award and known for training stalwarts such as Pullela Gopichand, Chetan Anand and Jwala Gutta.

Arif had realised Saina was better than the competition in the junior circuit and encouraged her to play in a senior tournament to get exposure to tougher competition.

“Saina was prepared to follow whatever she was told. She would never shy away from hard work and was always ready to push herself. She literally pushed her body to the limits while training. That is when I realised that she is a special talent and will go a long way,” Arif said in an interview.

She trained under Arif till 2005 when he retired as coach from the Sports Authority of India. She was then trained by Pullela Gopichand, who has been trained by Arif as well. Her training was rigorous under Gopichand and in 2012 she won the bronze medal in the London Olympics.

In 2014, she began training with Vimal Kumar, who played an instrumental role in her training after the Olympics. Under his coaching, Saina went on to become ranking first in women’s singles and win a silver at the World Championship in 2015.

Parupalli Kashyap

Parupalli Kashyap, Saina’s husband, has carved out a name for himself in badminton. He first rose to prominence when he won a bronze at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. In 2012, he then became the first male shuttler from India to reach the quarter-final at the London Olympics.

He and Saina knew each other from a camp in 1997 and in 2002 they began training together in Hyderabad. Soon, Kashyap began training Saina and has stood by her side ever since. In 2018, Saina went on to win the bronze at the Asian Games under her husband’s coaching.

“When I was training her and sitting for her matches, I also wanted to play the tournament. That helped me come back. I was motivated to train again and everything fell in place. Coaching her helped me and it helped her,” Kashyap said in an interview.

Saina’s journey in becoming one of the top Indian women badminton players has been a result of those who influenced her at different stages of her life. It is with their encouragement and help that she has gone on to win not only trophies and medals but also millions of hearts.

For soccer player Sangeetha Sekar, taking part in the Homeless World Cup in Scotland (2016) meant swapping her old and worn-out clothes with a brand new shining blue jersey. Swanky sneakers took the place of broken slippers and, for the first time in a very long time, she didn’t have to choose between drinking milk and eating eggs. 

By the time she was 16 and selected to play in the world cup, Sangeetha had already grown accustomed to a horrific existence and learnt how to tackle the dangers of living on the streets, including violence, diseases and malnutrition. And yet, she was terrified of travelling to another continent without her mother. Or maybe it was the fact that she would see a contrasting reality that would remind her of her destitute life. 

However, the worry and fear did not reflect on her face even once throughout the tournament. On the contrary, she displayed an exemplary performance as the captain of the Indian team. Her endurance and speed during the 90-minute matches were widely discussed in the tournament. Seeing the ease with which Sangeetha scored goals against her opponents, no one would believe that this teenager lived and grew up on the streets of Chennai. 

Two years later in 2018, she made her mark once again, at the Street Child World Cup in Russia, a tournament that takes place ahead of the FIFA World Cup every four years. Her performance caught the nation’s attention and journalists lined up on the Wall Tax Road in Georgetown, where she lived, eager to know her story.  

“Playing in the park, going to school or affording a four-square meal were pleasures that didn’t exist in my life,” Sangeetha, now 20, tells The Better India. “When I finally got a chance to make my own identity and excel at a sport, no one around me, including myself, believed I could do it. But I made it.” 

Sangeetha talks about what inspired her in her journey, and how she tackled social stereotypes and made India proud. 

Amid a life of struggle 

Sangeetha’s makeshift home lies amid the bustling streets of Chennai, with honking cars, scores of people walking on the footpath, and in the sweltering heat of the city. She grew up surrounded by the stench of garbage, frail-looking children begging for food, and municipal workers harassing the dwellers to clear the pavement.  

She was hardly three or four years old when her alcoholic father left their five-member family to fend for themselves. Her mother and elder sister took up odd jobs including wage labouring, and mopping people’s houses so Sangeetha and her siblings could go to school. 

Living on the pavement with a few plastic sheets that maintained their privacy was anything but easy, especially because of her gender. “Girls are often subjected to eve-teasing, men passing lewd comments and harassment by the mighty because they know no one will protect us. Necessities like taking a bath or using a washroom is still a luxury for us,” Sangeetha says. 

She was forced to drop out of school in Class IX due to severe poverty, and joined a utensil manufacturing firm across the street. Her job, which paid minimum wage, was to melt old utensils and polish new ones. However, she soon quit, and this ultimately proved to be a blessing in disguise. Around the same time, Karunalaya NGO, a child rights organisation, decided to help Sangeetha. She was enrolled back in school and NGO members would teach her after school. 

Even amid battling poverty, managing her studies, and working as a child labourer, Sangeetha’s passion for football was silently brewing. Watching matches on the pavement’s common TV was initially an escape from her struggles, but as she observed and began to understand the game, she found herself liking it even more. 

She expressed her desire to play football to the NGO, who connected her with a coach training school students. This was the turning point in Sangeetha’s life, she says. 

‘Soccer Sangeetha’

For most homeless children, dreaming of establishing a career or pursuing higher education is a distant reality. As soon as they turn 18, they take up menial jobs to make ends meet and feed their families. Some can’t afford to wait to reach the legal age. 

Sangeetha’s life graph was also heading in the same direction, but her zeal to break this cycle and her natural talent saved her. Learning the sport was not as challenging as listening to taunts from her family and neighbours. They shamed her for wearing shorts and wasting time learning a frivolous sport that didn’t guarantee a stable income. After the NGO’s intervention, her mother, Selvi eventually gave in and allowed her to play. 

“When she started playing, she had to wear shorts and pants. I was against the idea and was even criticised by many for allowing her to do so. But I realised that this is what she wanted to do, and when she started winning medals, I supported her. Others soon realised how well she was doing too. Now, we are all super proud of her,” Selvi told The News Minute.

Sangeetha swiftly developed a calibre for the sport due to rigorous practices and focus. She would practice before and during school hours, and at night under the street lights. A month later, she played her first local tournament ‘Slum Soccer Games’ and impressed everyone with her performance. This was followed by another win by Karunalaya’s girls’ team. She bagged her life’s first Best Player Award, which boosted her confidence and morale. The laurels also got her local recognition and people fondly started calling her ‘Soccer Sangeetha’. 

With her coach’s help, she was selected to play her first-ever international match. Sangeetha was the only girl selected from Tamil Nadu. There has been no looking back since. 

“I am grateful to the NGO, as they made it possible for a girl like me to be able to afford dreams and also fulfil them. Seeing my mother and sister struggle daily to feed us was painful, so I worked hard and decided to professionally pursue football,” says Sangeetha. 

Sangeetha’s remarkable story was made into a seven-minute short award-winning film ‘Made in Madras’ in 2019 by Shikha Kumari, Mohit Arora and Aishwarya Ashok. The movie was screened at various festivals including the Chicago Reels Fest, and was declared the 2019 MY HERO People’s Choice winner.

“We were moved by Sangeetha’s story, including the fact that she dropped out of school and worked as a child labourer to sustain her family. She is a very strong person who doesn’t let her guard down easily, and yet, she is empathetic. Despite the adversities, her positive attitude and hunger for excellence will take her ahead in life,” says Mohit. 

Today, Sangeetha’s life has not changed much. She still lives on the pavement and her mother is a daily wager. What has changed is the definitive career path that she has already embarked on. She is currently pursuing a B.Sc in Physical Education at Queen Mary’s College. She hopes to become an IAS officer so that she can use her position and uplift the lives of homeless children. She also wants to start a football academy to train children living in slums and on the streets for free. 

“I want to use football to change lives. It has changed mine, now it’s time I return the favour,” Sangeetha adds. 

Watch Made in Madras here:

Feature image source

To support Sangeetha financially, you can donate directly to her account. Details here:

District: Chennai
Branch: SOWCARPET
Branch Code: 00S034
Name: S Sangeetha
Account Number: 6173587177
IFSC Code: IDIB000S034

Edited by Divya Sethu

Mohammad Shams Alam Shaikh is a paraplegic swimmer who has overcome all odds and found a place for himself as an open-sea swimmer and international-level para-swimmer. He swam in the Arabian Sea, along the Sinquerim-Baga-Candolim sea in Goa, and won a bronze medal in the Para-Swimming Series in 2017. The following year, he ranked 8th in the Asian Para Games.

The 34-year-old athlete is a resident of Gurugram, and has been competing in para-sports since 2012. Before that, Shams was an international-level martial artist. But in 2010, he was diagnosed with a tumour in his spinal cord, and after undergoing surgery, was left with permanent paraplegia.

Conquering all odds, in March 2021, this determined athlete participated in the 20th National Para-Swimming Championship and won three medals — two gold and one silver. The competition was held in Bengaluru, and Shams spent only a few months training for it.

“The competition was to be held in 2020, but was postponed because of the pandemic. For eight months, I was unable to access a swimming pool and was only able to practice regular fitness at home. However, a swimming pool at Excelsior American School, located 30 kilometres from my home, has been open since November 2020. Authorities were kind and allowed me to train there, despite it being a members-only space,” Shams tells The Better India.

A tough road to success

Through the COVID-19 lockdown, when Shams was forced to stop swimming, he realised that the lack of fitness was taking a toll on his physical and mental health.

He says that since 2010, when he first began swimming, he has never experienced any side effects of paraplegia, including infections in his lower body. However, during the lockdown, he developed a urinary infection and had to seek immediate medical help.

“For a few months, I was feeling very low because of my condition. But after swimming pools opened, and I began training for my upcoming competition, I felt much better. This made me realise that swimming is not just a sport, but part of my lifestyle,” says Shams, adding that even after he began training, it was not an easy journey.

From December 2020 onwards, he travelled to the swimming pool every day by bus, because he did not have enough money to afford cab fare. While these buses were wheelchair-friendly, Shams had a tough time commuting, as he had to travel an extra three kilometres from the bus stop to reach the swimming pool.

It took him at least an hour to reach the pool, and twice, while deboarding the bus, Shams lost control and fell. However, he says that he never let small challenges stop him.

The fight for inclusivity

At the swimming pool, Shams was his own coach, and spent many hours training. “While there are para-swimming coaches in other cities like Bangalore, I could not find any in Gurgaon. So, I trained myself,” he says.

Meanwhile, though all the facilities in the area were up to the mark, he noticed that a ramp to enter and exit the water was missing. “When I noticed the pool lacked a ramp, I wrote an email to the authorities explaining how a ramp would make the venue more accessible and convenient for people with disabilities. They took it positively and had it installed within a few weeks,” says Shams.

This is not the first time Shams has stood up for inclusivity. In 2018, after he was appointed as a member of the policy making committee in the Sports Authority of Bihar, he noticed that the state lacked in providing equal opportunities for sportsmen and women with disabilities.

“This includes providing adequate training facilities, infrastructure, job opportunities, equal pay scale, and more. To ensure that these issues are addressed by higher-level officials, I have been working hard by writing to various ministers at the state and Central levels,” says Shams, adding that such changes would provide more opportunities to the youth across the country.

Apart from this, since 2019, he has been working with a Gurgaon-based company named Hella Automotive to produce wheelchairs that are customised according to every user’s needs. He says he heads the project, which is part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. To date, he has made eight prototypes which are being tested by four para-athletes.

Winning three medals

After juggling a hectic schedule between work and training for three months, in March, Shams travelled to Bengaluru to participate in the National Para-Swimming Championship. He competed in three categories — 50-meter butterfly, 150-meter medley, and 100-meter freestyle and won two gold and one silver medal respectively.

As Shams continues his training, in the future, he hopes to represent India in the Paralympics.