Mubassina Mohammed starts an athletics revolution in Lakshadweep

But last winter, a teenager from Minicoy Islands, who trains under Hassan, sparked an athletics revolution in the region which is gradually building up. Mubassina Mohammed became the first athlete from Lakshwadeep to bag a national-level medal in athletics when she won the long jump gold followed by another top-spot in heptathlon at the 2022 National Youth Championships in Bhopal.

The 16-year-old wasn’t done yet as she went on to bag silvers in the same events at the Asian Youth meet held in Kuwait a month later making her the first athlete from the region to win an international athletics medal as well.

On Friday at the Youth Nationals, she bagged another gold in long jump and was the only athlete to make a leap farther than the Athletics Federation of India’s qualifying mark of 5.81m for next month’s Tashkent Asian Youth Championships. She managed to breach the mark in her fourth attempt of 5.83m.

Mubassina’s success in the athletics circuit has sparked a lot of interest among other young women in the region who were earlier reluctant to join sports. “Earlier we used to only get football discards among boys. I had to go and convince parents to let their kids do athletics but after Mubassina’s medals, parents have been calling me to train their kids. Now it’s a break for exams and I am sure I will have more than 50 kids waiting to join coaching when I go back. The number can even reach a hundred,” says coach Hassan who is currently training about two dozen kids.

Credit to mother

The credit for this mini-revolution, coach Hassan says, goes to Mubassina’s mother Dubina Banu who is also her daughter’s biggest fan. Dubina ensures she travels to every national meet to cheer her daughter. It was no different on Friday.

“I think I have travelled to at least 15 nationals now. I want to be there and watch my daughter do well,” says Dubina who used to run a small clothing store in Minicoy. The store had to be shut after Dubina decided to move to coach Hassan’s Island Kavaratti along with her four children so that Mubassina could train regularly.

Dubina herself was a promising athlete back in school but her parents did not let her pursue it further. “I was really good. If my parents had let me continue I would have won the first national medal for Lakshwadeep for sure. But I am even more proud to realise my dream through my daughter,” says Dubina.

Mubassina’s 5.83m effort on Friday was more than a decent performance considering it came under the harsh sun at the poorly maintained MG Stadium in Udupi. The long jump event began at around 3 pm when the sun was beating down hard. Volunteers had to sprinkle water on the sand to cool it down and make it bearable for the jumpers.

But Mubassina wouldn’t complain. For her, getting to compete in a pit on a synthetic track itself is a huge deal. The 10 inhabited Islands of Lakshwadaeep don’t have even a single 400m mud track – synthetic facilities are a distant dream.

When Dubina first sent her daughter for athletics training, people around her were not happy. Dubina says their main concern was the sports clothing. But she couldn’t care less. “I don’t think like them. There were a lot of conservative people where I live and they cared more about the dressing. They wouldn’t let their children join sports because of that. But I don’t think like them. It never mattered to me. I always say, ‘see the talent, not the clothes,’” says Dubina.

But Dubina is glad to witness a change in the mindset now. “Now the same people ask me how their daughters can join athletics,” she adds.

After her Youth Asian triumph last year, Mubassina has become a household name in Lakshwadeep. Many youngsters idolise her. The Lakshwadeep administrator Praful Khoda Patel also lauded their efforts and sanctioned Rs 10 lakh as prize money for the youngster.

“Everyone knows her in Lakshwadeep now. The best part is that now we don’t find it difficult to get seats on the ships to the mainland.The weekly ship from Kavaratti, the capital of the union territory, is the only viable option for us to travel to the mainland. Getting ship tickets was so tough earlier but now the port officials help us,” says coach Hassan.