Empower girls in rural India to be Champions

Three girls from the drought-prone Mann taluka, Satara, are thirsty for more athletic achievements...

As a child, Reshma would take the family’s buffaloes out to graze several kilometres from home; days spent chasing them around, preventing them from straying, gave her all the training a city youngster aspiring to be an endurance athlete would get. And sure enough, when she began formal training at the Mann Deshi Champions grounds near her village — Mhaswad,— she began winning, 5-km, 10-km and half-marathon races. Now 18 and in Class XII, they know her in the village school as “the animal chaser who became the marathon winner.”

Punam, from Jambulni village, too worked with animals, helping her grandmother and aunt with herd their sheep and goats and, besides, walked long distances to school. She’s 16 now, and won first prize in the long jump at the National Athletics Federation Championship in Chhattisgarh and the first prize in the triple jump at the Maharashtra Junior Athletics Meet.

Vaishnavi, 15, has equally good achievements to her credit: the daughter of a farmer from Pulkoti village recently stood second in the Satara Hill 5-km race and fifth in the Pune 5-km; she also competes in the long jump category at state-level events.

Mann Deshi Champions identified these girls sporting potential and nurtured them to pursue athletics.  In September 2017, these three athletes visited Lake Braddock School in USA to experience highly advanced American sporting culture for 2 weeks. This opportunity boosted their knowledge and confidence levels enabling them to act as ambassadors to inspire other athletes pursue their passion.

“Rural India has a lot of talent which needs to be observed, tapped and supported,” says Chetna Gala Sinha, founder, Mann Deshi Foundation. “In turn, we learn a lot from these communities.”

Thank you so much for all our Global Giving Partners for their support to Mann Deshi Champions program.