Six athletes fighting for social change through sports

Sports mean different things to different people. While for some, it is a way to keep themselves fit or pursue a passion, for others it is a way of enriching lives via greater social inclusion.

In India, only 5.56 per cent of the population is 'sports literate'. To put in numbers, merely about 57 lakh people out of 125 crore people are engaged in sports, directly and indirectly.

While sports development is in the nascent stage in the country, there are athletes who are trying to convert their passion to influence others.

Here are a few such personalities:

Jyamuna and Sharmilata Pradhan

Sisters Jyamuna and Sharmilata Pradhan had to drop out school to help their parents—farmers who couldn’t afford their education.

Amid all their struggles, the girls discovered an unlikely passion that they have used to transform the lives of other girls in the village–football.

Their success has inspired others, and 19 girls from two neighbouring villages frequently travel to Jiridikia in Odisha for training.

The change that the sisters have sparked is being felt off the field as well. The girls have started a movement campaigning against child marriage and promoting the use of sanitary napkins and other safe menstrual practices.

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Sarita Chauray

Sarita Chauray, from Hoshangabad in Madhya Pradesh, has been blind since birth. She has been an athlete since childhood and participated in a camp to train blind judoists in 2017 organised by the NGO Sightsavers India.

In the 44 kg junior category, she won her first bronze medal at the 6th National Blind and Para Judo Championships in 2018. This inspired her to participate in trials in Gorakhpur the following year, where she was selected to play for the country.

In 2019, she represented India and won bronze at the Commonwealth Judo Championship for the visually-impaired in Birmingham, UK.

She believes that national and state-level training, such as the one provided by Sightsavers India, is crucial for her to pursue her dreams.

Aditya KV

Delhi-based Aditya KV is helping kids with intellectual and physical disabilities enjoy sporting and outdoor activities through his NGO Umoya Sports. Aditya was tired of his 9-5 corporate job and wanted to engage in an activity that can bring about a positive change in the community around him.

He started Umoya Sports in 2017. The not-for-profit organisation offers sports programmes curated for students with intellectual and physical disabilities.

Umoya’s aim is to help kids with special needs and foster a spirit of inclusivity. The NGO collaborates with schools teaching children with disabilities and implements the programme to train them in various sports like basketball, football, cricket, badminton, athletics, and yoga.

Ananya Kamboj

Ananya Kamboj is a young athlete who, through her involvement in various programmes and empowerment initiatives, has become a vocal advocate for gender equality and women’s empowerment.

A regular basketball and football player, Ananya observed how some sports coaches promote the notion that girls can’t play sports.

The teenager from Chandigarh credits the Football for Friendship programme for her achievements. In 2017, when India organised the U-17 Men’s Football World Cup, Ananya took part in a writing competition organised by Mission XI Million, an AIFF (All India Football Federation) programme promoted by Government of India to popularise football in India.

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She wrote an article about how football fosters friendships and global relationships. Her winning essay led her to be selected as a ‘Young Journalist’ for the Football for Friendship (F4F) programme in St Petersburg, Russia. F4F is an annual international children’s social programme that brings together children from over 60 countries to cultivate respect for different cultures and nationalities through football.

Ananya has also started her own programme called ‘Sports to Lead’ to help girls and women understand their rights and overcome gender inequality.

Prabhat Sinha

Hailing from Mhaswad, a quaint village in Satara district of Maharashtra, Prabhat Sinha did not know about the existence of any competitive physical activities or games until he moved to the US.

Years later, when he happened to visit his hometown, he realised that things were still the same–kids had no exposure to sports, physical training was missing in most schools and children were running around in craggy open spaces. That was when he decided to bring about a change in the scenario and launched the Mann Deshi Champions.

In 2017, Prabhat quit his job in the US and dedicated all his efforts to further transform the track into a full-fledged sporting academy with a large swimming pool, a 400-metre racetrack, separate fields for football and volleyball, a wrestling akhada, long jump pit as well as a 5,000 sq ft gym.

Today, the Mann Deshi Champions programme identifies young girls and boys from some of the most remote and backward rural areas of Maharashtra and offers them free training in any sport of their choice.