Kabaddi brought glory to these two policewomen

Praveen Kumar | NT

Kabaddi means a lot for these two women police personnel. They have also made the state police proud by representing the country and winning medals at Asian Games.

They thank the sport for getting them government jobs, international and national level exposures, recognitions, awards, cash prizes among other things. They further said that being a sportswoman has great advantages and urged every parent to encourage their children to take up sports of their choice and interest. They felt that with the pandemic having affected the entire world, sport is one thing that keeps everybody alive.

L. Jayanthi (41) was part of the Indian women Kabaddi team that won a gold medal at the 2014 Asian Games held at Incheon in South Korea. She got appointed as a police constable in 1999 batch and is currently attached to the Urigam police station in Kolar Gold Fields (KGF).

Being the mother of a seven-year-old boy, she urges all the parents to encourage their children to take up a sport of their interest. She wants more and more women to represent India in international games.

“I was earlier into athletics. Since I did not get much exposure, I switched to kabbadi and underwent training under a former national men’s kabaddi player. My father represented HMT factory in football and he encouraged me to take up sports. He got me trained under his friend. I grew up in Bengaluru and did my education here. Since I had played Kabaddi at the regional level, it helped me to come up under the sports quota. The same sport got me international exposure and recognition,” Jayanthi told NT.

Another police woman, Usha Rani (33), is 2017 Asian Games silver medal winner at Jakarta in Indonesia. She is also the winner of Ekalavya award, Chief Minister’s medal among many other honours. She is presently attached to the Doddaballapura police station and is on Officer on Deputation (OOD) to represent the women police in Kabbadi.