The three-day 2nd South Asian Federation (SAF) Junior Athletics Championships, which will begin on Sunday in Ranchi, might reflect the domination of men in sports and athletics in letter and spirits as participation of female athletes from the foreign nations is far less from what was expected. In fact, few countries are participating without any female athlete.
Till late evening on Saturday, among the eight participating teams, Afghanistan arrived with four male athletes, Maldives with six male athletes, Bangladesh with six male and seven female athletes, Sri lanka with 21 male and female athletes along with approximately 50 male and 32 female players from Indian team. Pakistan team was expected to reach but there was no hint of information about the confirm arrival of Nepal and Bhutan teams.
Bhutan was supposed to be here with only four male athletes. Whereas, Nepal with five male and female athletes. The international event is exclusively meant for under 20 age group.
Citing the no-girl player representation, Afghanistan team’s coach Ahmad Feroz Sakhizada said, “Families are scared to send our daughters outside our nation. The prevailing violence due to Taliban and other terror creating units, it is not possible to encourage the parents whose daughters have a bright future in athletics. Two were about to come but their parents denied at the last moment.”
“It is final examination time in schools of our country. Studies are more important than sports especially for girls. Even, if it is at international platform. So, only boys were selected,” said Naim and Nawaf, male athletes of Maldives.
Explaining the reason behind this rare girl participation, Indian athlete star PT Usha who is here to watch her academy students Jessy Joseph and Shaharana performance from Indian team said, “Athletics is a budding sports discipline in many developing nations. Probably, this might be a reason for rare representation on behalf of the girls. As you can see, boys too are far less in numbers than our Indian team.”
Accepting this fact, Bangladesh team’s male athletes MD Roman and Ashik Kumar said, “Presently, Navy is organizing a sports meet in our nation. Most of the players are between the age group of 18 to 19 years. In such circumstances, we cannot hope of a good strength at international sports tournaments like this SAF games.”
According to a Jharkhand Athletics Association (JAA) member, Pakistan is sure to come with 24 male and seven female athletes. “The female player population will definitely not be zero in Pakistan’s team. They are a strong competitor to our native team,” said the JAA member.