Coco
Gauff did face a lot of struggles to be in the golden path of Wimbledon; it was the proudest
moment for her and her family. Taking her example, many are now up on a
journey.
“It definitely drives and motivates me,” says 11-year-old Squash
player Samairah Bandare, while talking about how she can relate to young Coco.
As a girl, Samairah challenges men and bravely says that women in sports have
similar goals and challenges as boys. She has set her mind to face the hard
work and outcomes of it.
And it shows clearly through her daily routine. Samairah has
such a busy schedule, managing school and practices. She sleeps by 8:30pm to
catch up on the required rest. Often her training time clashes with family
outing time and she has to miss few of them. In the last 18 months, she has
played close to 30 national tournaments. As this also translates to missing
school, Samairah makes up for t his by carrying her books with her.
Acquiring that perfect strength, speed and stamina, 12-year-old
Sanjana Prabhugaonker loves the water. She chose swimming as her sport after
getting attracted to it on a swimming camp at the age of six. Astonishing
everyone, she’s won 102 medals till date and in 2016, represented India at the
International Biathle in Florida, USA, winning the silver medal.
Facing some struggle as a youth, she says, “Oh I really wish to
spend my days socialising and going out roaming, but that’s impossible for me
now that I have training sessions all the time, sometimes three to four hours
training. I know it’s a huge sacrifice, but at the end of the day, when I look
back at all of my achievements, I urge myself to go on because I love what I
do,” expresses Sanjana.
She also makes it clear, saying that
it isn’t always about winning; one has to enjoy their sport.
Most assume that women are not the
kind to take on punches or bruises. You always got those that say, ‘oh she’s
soft, or ‘oh be gentle with her’, ‘Boxing is not her cup of tea’… and the
narrow minds just won’t stop. It’s true that Mary Kom shattered all those
thoughts. Likewise, here in Goa, some of our young women are winning gold
medals for boxing. From boxing the punching bags to reaching the India Camp,
17-year-old Tanisha Chawan from Porvorim is busy doing her best. “Boxing makes
me strong and by ‘strong’ I don’t only mean physically. I feel I have the
power. I have even competed with men, and feel powerful before them,” shares
Tanisha.
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Tanisha is overwhelmed at the success
of Coco Gauff and hopes to attain success herself. Through boxing she’s learnt
self defence too. “Boxing is an individual game and I get to show my skills
wholly. Whoever said boxing needs muscular men, there’re all wrong,” says
Tanisha confidently. Waking up at five in the morning and keeping up with her
12th standard studies is not easy, but she’s determined to give it her all and
this young fighter is all set to make Goa proud.
The mental brainstorming and smart
thinking required for a game like Chess is another ballgame altogether. Bhakti
Kulkarni, the best known chess player in Goa, has proven her skill time and
gain over the years. She won her first bronze medal during the Nationals in
1998 at the age of six. In an interview, she revealed how Goa didn’t have a
culture of Chess and hence breaking those walls was glorious to her.
It seems that our young women, some of whom have just
begun shaping themselves into fine sportspersons, are proving to the world that
there are no limits to hard work and victory. Striving for the trophies and
handling the other side of life has not made these women weary, but
unbreakable.
