The world of Jujutsu is agog with excitement. The World Combat games are scheduled to be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia from October 20-30. Importantly there will be just two officials from Asia who have qualified to officiate at these games. One a man from Kazakhstan and a woman from India. And that woman is Goa’s very own Shikha Pathak.
A resident of Vasco, she has been a competitor in the past but has now taken to officiating. The World Combat Games are considered one step below the Olympics. She has qualified by virtue of having qualified by scoring the marks as well as scoring highly in all the qualifying evaluations.
Her path to officiating started in 2018. Till 2014 she was an athlete and she was pretty upfront when she said the standard of officiating was no very high. She said officiating was biased and she decided that she would show the way to others. She said, “I wanted to show them that one could be straight and do a good job.”
Her life is pretty hectic and she is also a mother to a 3 and a half year old child. Her husband is away for five months in a year in the merchant navy. She says her in-laws are very understanding and co-operative so it all works out fine. She is essentially travelling to various championships around the country every month and the cooperation amongst the family unit is fundamental to ensure everything works out fine.
Just after she gave up competing as an athlete in 2014, she moved into coaching but had to give it up after her marriage because it would mean a lot of time away from home. She later spent two years as an assistant professor at the Don Bosco Panjim where she handled physical education. Her career as a member of the officiating segment has taken her to the C games which is equal to the Commonwealth games. She will be in Saudi Arabia for a week from Oct 22 to Oct 28. As an official who has proved her competence she has been given the added responsibility of training more referees in South Asia. She trains personnel in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh and also from countries like Vietnam, the Philippines and even Turkey.
One can only wish her all the very best as she showcases her competence internationally.
