BENGALURU: I have struggled a lot to pursue a career in sports,” says Sushmita Jagadeesh about her journey as a sportswoman in woodball – sport that is not known to many in India.
Woodball is a sport where a mallet is used to pass a ball through ‘gates’, like in polo and originated in Taiwan. It can be played in grass, sand or indoor.
Sushmitha, along with Bharath Gundappa, another Kannadiga, will be part of the Indian woodball team participating in the fifth Asian Beach Games at Da-Nang, Vietnam, to be held from September 24 to October 3.
“I started my career with basketball and poured my soul into it. But, woodball later seemed a better fit and thus started my romance with the game,” says 24-year-old Sushmita, who moved to Bengaluru from Chikkamagaluru at a young age for sports training.
This MBA graduate from Nitte Minakshi Institute of Technology, in the city had to quit playing professional basketball games after an ankle injury. After this incident, she took to woodball since she didn’t want to give up her passion for sports.
She was selected for the Asian beach camp in Goa and for the Indian camp in Alibaugh later on.
This would be her first international tour, representing India, she says.
“I start my day with yoga, meditation and fitness exercises. I follow this up by playing strokes, fairways and long shots. I am working really hard and will give my best aiming for a medal for India,” she says.
Among the Indian camp that Sushmita is tagging along with is 24-year-old Bengalurean Bharath Gundappa, who also plays woodball.
Like Sushmitha, even Bharath started his professional career playing basketball at state-level and later moved on to woodball on the advice of his coach Lakshmikanth V.
Lakshmikanth is the general secretary of Karnataka State Woodball Association, which is a registered body under the Ministry of Sports and the Indian Olympic Association, says Bharath.
“For the last four years, I have been playing woodball. The sport is prominent in Alibaugh, Goa, Nagpur and Kolkata, but I see it picking up among youth in Bengaluru,” says Bharath.
Bharath has represented India during Asia Cup 2015 in Thailand and the World cup in South Korea this year.
“One can learn it in three days but to train oneself to concerntrate and excel the tactics is crucial in competitions,” he says. Bharath is currently a law student at Seshadri Pramukh college.
“It is my father’s dream to see me as a lawyer. I just want to continue with sports and open a coaching institute in the city for woodball and basketball,” he says.
Bharath is currently planning to build his dream project – a basketball and woodball coaching institute – in the city. “BBMP has offered us land to build the coaching academy,” he says.
Sindhi school, Brigade school and Vidya Poornaprajna are among the few schools in the city that offer special training to their students in woodball.