Dressed in white T-shirts and black bottoms, women kabaddi players from the Valarpirai Sports Foundation here winning laurels at national-level competitions despite hailing from economically weaker sections of society. They recently clinched the CM Trophy Open Tournament at the district-level but now are struggling to manage funds for travel and food expenses to take part in state level tournaments.
The 24 players on the team are from single-parent families and most of their parents work as daily wage earners. Players are still studying, and others go to college due to sports quotas and kabaddi.
G Gayathri, one of the players at just 19 years old, played for South Zone at the Khelo India Games in 2023. Gayathri, whose mother works as a maid, says that she still plays kabaddi because it is her mother’s wish for her to continue doing so. She said they don’t actually have a facility to practice. The team used to practice on the corporation ground adjacent to Nehru Stadium, which doesn’t have basic facilities, including toilets and during monsoon season, the tracks becomes flooded making it difficult for an outdoor practice.
The third player, 19-year-old S V Sowmya, who had played for Tamil Nadu in the All-India University Tournament in Punjab held this year. According to her, the team is competing in women’s kabaddi under the top-10 category of approximately 85 gloriously competing teams in state. Although they have won national tournaments in Goa and Punjab and an international tournament in Nepal, they still struggle for basic things like nutritious food, proper jerseys, and shoes.
Sowmya said, We spend our prize money on travel, food and injuries. “We could do better if we had sponsors and proper facilities to perform, which helps us get good placements”.
Injuries also obstruct the players too, as medical treatment is often regarded to be too pricey. G Sathishkumar, the coordinator for the foundation, said they were looking to get some sponsors to take care of their health insurance.