After battling odds,Deepika rises to new high

Meena Joseph’s objection to her daughter’s kabaddi fixation were to grow feebler with every passing day. After all,it’s hard to argue against an Asian Games gold — achieved at Guangzhou in 2010 — and a World Cup victory clinched at Patna earlier this month.

The World Cup win was quickly followed by an announcement of Rs one crore reward for Deepika and her state-mates Abhilasha Mhatre and Suvarna Bartake by the Maharashtra government. In a couple of month’s time,she will also complete her BA in English from Fergusson College. This in turn will bring her full-time employment,as a Class I officer in the sales tax department. “This was supposed to happen after the Asian Games itself,but I needed that graduation certificate to complete the procedure,” she said.

Deepika won her mother’s backing long before this avalanche of public recognition.

“After I played in the nationals for the first time,my mother started giving me full support. She told me not to have any fear,and play confidently,” said Deepika. “The people in this neighbourhood aren’t very open-minded. They would make remarks about me coming home late from training or playing kabaddi wearing shorts,but she ignored all that and was fully behind me. I would practice in sandals,and for matches,I would borrow shoes from a neighbour. His mother would yell at me saying I’ll tear the shoes,but she would lend them anyway.”

‘This neighbourhood’ is a maze of winding alleys that climb up Vetal Hill,off Paud P hata ,stopping just outside the gates of the ARAI complex. Deepika’s living room wears all the trademark accoutrements of a sportsperson’s rise from humble beginnings. Three walls are covered with shelves full of trophies and certificates and a corner of the ceiling has a square opening through which a ladder-like staircase ascends steeply into a recently set up upper floor.

During her decade-long engagement with the sport,Deepika has observed a similarly steep rise in kabaddi’s stature within India.

“The game has really picked up since the time I started,” she said. “Before,we would get only Rs 5,000 or Rs 10,000 as prize money for state-level tournaments. Now,one lakh is the minimum. Earlier,the best player would get a cycle. Now they get Pulsars and Activas. Earlier,we used to have cricketers like Zaheer Khan as chief guest for the opening ceremonies. A few weeks ago,I did the opening ceremony for a cricket tournament in Fergusson College.”

The inaugural World Cup at Patna was the latest milestone. “Sixteen teams took part in the World Cup and we never thought they would be so good,” she said. “Iran (whom India beat in the final) have a lot of strength and very good technique too. They play very aggressively – if they grab hold of your foot,they’ll almost break it. So it’s a big challenge against them. Apart from that,Thailand,Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are also very good and Chinese Taipei are also coming up very quickly. They train in high altitudes,where the oxygen level is low,and they have a lot of stamina,” she added.