I Am Possible
“You were born with potential. You were born with goodness and trust. You were born with ideals and dreams. You were born with greatness. You were born with wings. You are not meant to be crawling, so don’t. You have wings. Learn to use them and fly.” - Rumi
In a country where cricket is religion and cricketers are God, making a name for yourself in any other sport is a miracle in itself. But this article is not about a nation obsessed with cricket or the gazillion challenges the sporting fraternity faces in India.
This article is about celebrating Indian sportswomen. Women who have broken shackles. Women who have shattered boundaries. Women who have risen from ashes.
You may not have heard of them. And it is not your fault. For a country that houses one sixth of the world’s population, there are barely a handful of names that have received widespread international recognition.
The reasons are many- lack of resources, no facilities, federation politics, disinterested officials. And then there is the obsession with cricket which makes parents, in true Henry Ford style, go – “You can play any sport, as long as its cricket”.
But where men have to fight a battle, women have to fight a war. A war of mindsets steeped in generations of patriarchal misogyny. “How can a girl be a boxer. It is a sport only for men”, “Why are you wasting money on her, she is not your son”, “Focus on your daughter’s marriage”, “How can you let her wrestle with men”, “Who will marry her if she doesn’t know how to cook.”
The list goes on and on.
A girl who dreams of a career in sports not only has to fight the competition that exists outside, she has to first fight these voices inside. Voices that kill her spirit. Voices that crush her soul.
And that is why I hold Indian sports women in the highest regard. They may not have won Olympic golds, tennis grand slams or have wiki pages dedicated to their wins (yet). But their courage to fight, their hunger to succeed and their determination to break stereotypes has won them a place in the hearts of many.
This is my moment to celebrate women who have inspired me and shown me what true grit and single-minded focus can lead to.
I bring to you, stories of remarkable Indian women in sports.
