Breaking barriers: Gurdaspur coaches push to train girl judokas

In a room in Gurdaspur, far from the glare of stadium lights, a quiet revolution is unfolding, led by young judokas. What these girls endure in sweat and pain today is shaping the steel they will carry into tomorrow. Once seen as fragile, they now flip opponents with fearless precision.

After the coaches of the famous Shaheed Bhagat Singh Centre enjoyed stupendous success by producing 40 international and more than a hundred national-level male judokas, they thought it prudent to put their judo knowledge to optimum use by spotting and consequently training girls.

Rani Lakshmibai, one of the most prominent figures of the Indian Revolt of 1857, will now cast her shadow over the training centre. It was the choice of the girls and their coaches to name the centre after the warrior.

In the border city of Gurdaspur, known more for high-flying drones and deadly drugs than anything else, people now proclaim with pride that their city has produced Olympians and participants in World Championships, Asian Games, Commonwealth Games, World University Games and World Police Games, the list goes on. If drones and drugs have made the city infamous, the judo centre has made it famous.

Head coach Amarjit Shastri worked hard to convince the government girls’ school authorities, a stone’s throw from the boys’ centre, to let them use a room to train girl judokas. Seeing the success of the boys’ centre, the school took no time to let them in and open a room. “If I can produce Olympians from a place that has no proper judo mats, no infrastructure, no basic facilities or resources, who can stop me from producing champions from a room?” asked Shastri.

The girls’ centre, which was inaugurated by DEO Rajesh Sharma in June last year, has already started producing results. Several girls aged between 10 and 18 are now regularly winning medals in junior and sub-junior category tournaments. The girls belong to poor and lower middle-class sections of society. The first lesson that is drilled into their minds by coaches Balwinder Kaur, a former judoka, and NIS-qualified Atul Kumar is not to be better than their competitors, but to be better than they were yesterday. The second is that it is fine not to win medals in tournaments because you still beat somebody who lacked the courage to compete. These are purified words of wisdom, indeed.

Niswanjit Kaur is a talent to watch out for. Even at such a tender age, her throwing, grappling and striking techniques attract judokas from nearby centres to watch and emulate.

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Jalandhar