Love for sports takes women athletes to playground despite uncertainty

Women athletes in the country are equally active in the field despite lack of patronisation like their male counterparts.

It is their love for sports that drags them to participate initially at local level and then move beyond national level to conquer the international arena. They are equally visible like men in Kabaddi, shooting, swimming, weight-lifting, basketball, archery, golf and even in horse race.

Although successful both at home and abroad, the women athletes are unsure about the future course of action.

Foreign tours, some medals and some money are all they get. But as days pass, their dreams lose colour as there is no patronisation, no monthly allowance for continuing the sports and develop their skills unlike men in sports.

It is only their love, their interest that compels them to continue to play.

Four successful women athletes spoke to bdnews24.com about their struggle, aspiration and achievement on International Women’s Day. They also shed light their determination to take up sports as a profession, their urge for recognition and financial assistance.

TASMINA AKTER, HORSE RACE

Tasmina Akter, 13, is the sole female horse racer in the country. She began horse racing since she was 10 years old winning awards in parts of the country.

She hails from Choksubol village at Dhamoirhat Upazila in Naogaon district and studies in class seven in Shankarpur High School.

Tasmina learned horse riding at the age of five as her father Obaidur Rahman owned a horse.

Although poverty compelled them to sell off the horse, she won different local horse races over her male counterparts with other people’s horse. But the award used to be taken by the horse owner leaving Tasmina into obscurity.

However, Tasmina owns a horse now which enables her to compete in any horse race happening throughout the country.

“All I can do is horse-racing and I want to go abroad to play this sport if someone helps me,” said Tasmina.

SHAHNAZ PARVIN MALEKA, KABADDI

Marriage at 13 following delivering a child at 15 could not prevent Shahnaz Parvin Maleka from pursuing her interest in sports. She even left her little daughter to her mother and went to play in the school playground while she was a student of class eight.

Maleka got a job in Bangladesh Ansar while she was studying higher secondary and could not finish her studies.

However, her interest in sports drew her to National Kabaddi Team even while on the job. At present, Maleka is the captain of National Kabaddi Team of women winning the highest number of medals in the country. Her team won bronze medals in Asian Games 2010 and 2014.

Maleka expressed her concerns regarding post-performance days.

“At certain point in time, I will lack fitness and won’t be able to play anymore. Nobody will take care of us. All I wanted was to take up Kabaddi as profession but nobody assures us of financial security in this field,” she said.

She said playing Kabaddi can cause serious and long-term injuries. “We become totally inactive if injured,” Maleka said while calling for security for women Kabaddi players.

When asked, Maleka said girls show a lot of interest to play Kabaddi but they drop out due to lack of skills training, allowance or recognition.

“Our government does a lot for others but doing a little for us will be enough.”

Maleka nurtures the dream of getting National Award some day.

UMMEY ZAKIA SULTANA TUMPA, SHOOTING

A shooter in Dhaka Rifles Club and graduate from Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Protisthan (BKSP), Tumpa now plays for the national team. She started shooting at the age of sixteen. Generally, she is skilled in 10-metre and 50-metre shooting.

Tumpa began to win medals since 2008 and bagged a gold in 10-metre air rifle event during 19th National Shooting Championship in 2017.

Tumpa wants to build her career in shooting but there is no assurance. She never received any prize-money despite bagging so many medals. Tumpa believes many women will come forward to take up shooting as sports if the government creates opportunity and arranges allowance.

“Many women opt for shooting but drop out later as shooting is an expensive sport which needs different equipment and a lot of practice,” said Tumpa. She also mentioned the dearth of places for practicing shooting.

ASHREEN MRIDHA, BASKETBALL

A group of best women athletes comprise National Basketball Team and Ashreen Mridha is one of them. She played for the national team in South Asian Basketball Championship in Nepal in2016.

Ashreen lamented the lack of good basketball coaching places in the country. There is no training institute for basketball in the country other than Dhaka.

“Sometimes we miss sudden calls for international games as there is no prepared team throughout the year; there is no scope of preparing a player though practice and training,” she said.

A graduate from the North South University, Ashreen is now working for Unilever Bangladesh. She said she definitely wanted to take sports as profession but the situation is uncertain.

She said she wanted more women to play but the financial crisis is the main hindrance.

“It is a tough job to play but we play for our own interest. We are bound to do something else if at the end of the day our achievement is limited to medals only. Then we lose the concentration,” said Ashreen.

She is also worried about the post-retirement phase.

State Minister for Youth and Sports Biren Sikder acknowledged contributions of these women athletes. He also mentioned related problems and drawbacks.

“Whatever they achieved for the country, I believe it is more than enough compared to the financial support we provide with our small budget,” he said.

The minister said the government allocated Tk 14.86 billion for the youth and sports sector in fiscal 2017-2018, which is inadequate. He said he urged Finance Minister AMA Muhith and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to increase budget for sports.