Women from Haryana, a conservative state, are taking giant strides in sports.
With its aim to push sports, the Haryana government is leaving no stones unturned. A lot of this push for sports is also directed towards women’s sports in a state, where women, in spite of coming from a conservative background are excelling in sports.
In Haryana, one can witness women sportspersons sprinting in the morning in the small lanes and bylanes, on the roads and through the rice and wheat fields. Be it wrestling, hockey, weightlifting, kabaddi, boxing or shooting, Haryana’s female sportspersons are proving their mettle every day. Some of the prominent women sports personalities from the state are Saina Nehwal, Sakshi Malik, the Phogat sisters, Manu Bhakar, Paralympian Deepa Malik and many others. Sonipat, Rohtak, Jhajjar, Bhiwani and Panipat districts are known for producing the maximum number of female sportspersons. To give an example, out of 12, as many as 8 boxers from Haryana secured a place in the national team announced by the National Federation of Boxing for international championships. Five of these eight belong to Bhiwani, which is known as mini Cuba in terms of boxing.
As Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has said: “It is a matter of great pride to all Haryanvis that Haryana’s sportspersons have continued to bring laurels to the country in international events. I am happy to inform you that in the recently held Khelo India Youth Games in Madhya Pradesh, Haryana stood second with a total medals tally of 128, of which 41 are gold. It is overwhelming the way women sportspersons are performing and inspiring other states.”
Several factors played a pivotal role in making women sportspersons excel. In the initial stages, women sportspersons faced a lot of hurdles as their parents would hesitate sending their daughters outside of their homes. But things changed over time.
Experts are of the opinion that the rise of Haryana’s women sportspersons is linked to the majority of the state’s people’s robust physique, which helps them work the fields under a sweltering sun. The same helps them get jobs in the military and play sports like wrestling. In fact, wrestling has always been an integral part of rural Haryana, where female players competed for prizes that varied from a fistful of cash or a pot of ghee, or just the honour of a village.
What also encouraged women to join sports is the policy adopted by successive state governments. Be it the INLD or the Congress-led government or the present BJP one, the state has always encouraged sports. Ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, the government made the provision of giving an incentive amount of Rs 5 lakh in advance to players participating in the Olympics and Paralympics. Haryana offers the highest cash prize among states for a sportsperson winning medals in Olympics—Rs 6 crore for a gold medal, Rs 4 crore for a silver, Rs 2.5 crore for a bronze and Rs 15 lakh for every participant who goes to the Olympics. Besides, a cash award of Rs 50 lakh will be given to those ending at the fourth position at the Olympics. Cash prizes are given for National Games as well.
The state has established 1,100 sports nurseries for the benefit of young and budding sportspersons. Besides, the government has decided to establish a sports university in Rai, Sonipat, to promote research and studies in different disciplines related to sports sciences, sports infrastructure, sports nutrition and sports management. In a bid to assist in the training efforts of the sportspersons who aim to compete nationally and internationally and to nurture them in case of injuries, a national level Scientific Training and Rehabilitation Centre for Sports (STRCS) will be set up at Tau Devilal Sports Complex, Panchkula.
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar has announced the setting up of a sports academy, along with a sports academy of 200 beds each in Ambala and Panchkula, to provide training facility, apart from establishing a sports university in Rai.
It is evident from the medals bagged by sportspersons from the state that Haryana has become the sports engine of the country. Of the 126 athletes representing the country in the Tokyo Olympics, 31 came from Haryana. Haryana athletes stamped their authority once again to bag 20 medals for India in the Commonwealth Games (CWG) held in Birmingham—nearly 35% of the medals won by India. As many as 43 athletes from Haryana competed in the Commonwealth Games and Para Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last year. Haryana wrestlers stole the show with Bajrang Punia, Deepak Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Naveen and Ravi Dahiya. Female sportspersons, namely, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat won gold medals in their respective weight categories. Nitu Ghanghas won a medal in boxing. Shafali Verma showcased her talent in cricket. The list of bronze medal winners included the names of Savita Punia, Pooja Gehlot and Pooja Sihag in wrestling.
Pankaj Nain, who is Director, Sports, Haryana, said that this success is because the state has always supported and treated female sportspersons equally and given them equal representation. He further said that the department has never shied away from onboarding and offering jobs as coaches to outstanding female sportspersons or having women run sports administration at both district and headquarters levels. Rani Rampal is a former captain of the Indian hockey team, who is currently employed in the Railways. The list also includes the names of Anshu Malik, Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik, among others.
Regarding women’s active participation in sports in Haryana, Pankhudi Gupta, a senior consultant in the Sports Department said that through various schemes and initiatives the department ensures the maximum participation of female sportspersons. Female sportspersons are gaining a lot from government schemes, namely the Khel Nursery scheme, Khelo India scheme, apart from scholarships and cash awards.
As such, promoting female involvement in sports is an important tool to bring about gender equality and women’s empowerment and thus drive social change.