Rohtak, Nov 29: Indian women have made significant progress in sports over the past decade, but former and current athletes, including hockey great Rani Rampal, on Friday emphasised the lack of awareness around the challenges faced by sportswomen, an issue they believe requires continued advocacy.
Rani, world champion boxer Nitu Ghanghas, Commonwealth Games gold medallist javelin thrower Annu Rani and former hockey player Pritam Rani Siwach were among the prominent athletes who shared their insights at a one-day conference on ‘Women’s Issues in Sports’, organised by Sports Authority of India (SAI), NCOE Rohtak.
“It is the first time SAI has highlighted women’s issue in sports in a programme. It is an important thing because we never talk about women’s issues and we need to do this so that young female athletes know how to face their struggles and issues,” Rani said on the sidelines of the event aimed to raise awareness on this important issue.
“I have faced all these problems as an athlete, so I try my best to help others facing the same issues, in whatever way I can. Be it talking to those who share their problems with me or going to programmes like this and raising awareness,” she added.
The day-long event included sessions on how to deal with pre-competition stress and anxiety, gender equality in sports, hydration strategies and hormonal changes and menstrual irregularities in female athletes.
“This is a great initiative because we feel awkward talking about issues of women. This was at small level, in future we can talk about it on a larger scale. It is important to educate women about all these things,” Annu said.
“In sports, women face several problems, when female athletes are menstruating they have pain or are not able to give their 100 per cent, and how to deal with that. Sometimes the girls think it’s only happening to them, that is not the case. It should be taught in schools as well because a lot of the time the girl is coming from a village and her parents also don’t know most of the things,” she added.
Also present at the event were NCOE Deputy Director Sachin K, former SAI Executive Director Radhica Sreeman, SAI NOCE Sonepat Regional Director Shivam Sharma, former SAI SSO Meenu Dhingra, among others.
“A lot of times, we women are not able to share our issues with our families or even friends, so this is a great platform to talk about it. Such discussions are beneficial for us and will help in the development of us as players,” Nitu said. (PTI)
