Veroli Zhimo
The impact on global sports, due to the coronavirus pandemic, was seen to be relatively ‘lesser’ than other areas. In fact, sport was among the first things to return to near normalcy, with almost all major sporting events taking place in some form or the other, albeit with varying protocol measures.
Despite dealing with profound economic effects, the bottom line was that professional sport did not suffer as much. But take a deeper look, and you'll see that what got left behind, inadvertently or by design, was women's sport, especially in Nagaland.
Pandemic or not, men's sport got most organizations' preference because it was considered financially more lucrative. The professional sporting world is an industry, after all. But for those trying to highlight women's sport in the media, gender inequality became even more obvious.
The glaring inequity was evident in the response from the Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Youth Affairs & Sports Kiren Rijiju in the Lok Sabha in February this year. The Minister provided details of the programmes being run by the Government to search for talents from the rural areas of the North-Eastern States.
The data revealed that no women candidates from Nagaland were enrolled in the Sports Authority of India's (SAI) seven Sports Promotional Schemes. The schemes include Indigenous Games and Martial Arts Centre (IGMA), Army Boys Sports Company (ABSC), SAI Training Centre (STC), Special Area Games Centre (SAG), Centre of Excellence (GAE), and the National Sports Academy (NSA).
Even in the Khelo India Scheme, no female candidate from Nagaland was selected. But it was not a pandemic aberration. The zero women status, deliberate or otherwise, had has been continuing as far back as 2016.
In a recent interview with this newspaper, Nagaland women's cricket team captain Sentilemla Imsong highlighted the 'lack of attention' given to women's cricket in the State. Also, whenever cricket tournaments are organized, there is little or no category for women, she observed, while admitting that lesser number of female participants could be a contributing factor.
But they are making strides. While the men's senior team had failed to move beyond the plate group, the senior women's team finished second in the plate group of the last Women's Senior One Day Trophy and will now be playing in the Elite D group at the Women's Senior One Day Trophy 2020-21, scheduled between March 11 and April 11.
Understandably, even men's sport in Nagaland is also yet to come at par with the rest of the country, let alone the rest of the world. However, with women's sports taking centre stage and gaining prominence and popularity across the globe, any partial treatment, deliberate or otherwise, is no longer considered the norm but a discrepancy.
In this scenario, it is important that, along with the progress of men's sport, a decisive push should be given towards addressing the discrepancy so that Naga sportswomen do not continue to lag behind their male counterparts.
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