BENGALURU: Frisbee, in India, is considered less of a sport and more of a warm-up drill or a game for the kids. But few know the sport, mostly known as Ultimate, is recognised by the International Olympic Committee. India is slowly catching up with world leaders United States, Canada and Great Britain. The national Ultimate team, which is ranked 27th in the world, recently finished a credible fifth out of 32 teams in mixed category in the World Championship of Beach Ultimate in Royan, France.
Dhatri Halemane Vidyashankar, who was a member of the team, said the exposure and positive result were crucial for. “We attended a few international tournaments before but nobody could go that far. We were seeded 15th in France and claiming the fifth spot was a massive boost for us as players and for the sport in the country,” she said on the sidelines of Usha Bangalore Ultimate Open (BUO).
On the way to France, however, the first roadblock was funding. Much like the fairytale story of Indian women’s ice hockey team, the Ultimate team also resorted to crowdfunding projects. When they could, they paid out of their own pockets for tickets and the rest was up to fundraisers. They raised a little over `6 lakhs for the tournament through Ketto, a crowdfunding website and they also got support from cab-booking platform Ola.
But things didn’t go smoothly for the team. The mixed team suffered a crushing 6-13 defeat to Philippines (ranked 22) on the opening day and then after a moral boosting win against Venezuela, they lost four matches in a row, including narrow defeats to New Zealand (10) and Spain (11). But the team managed to pull off a comeback and defeated the likes of hosts France (7), Sweden (16) and Russia (14).
Without a proper coach and special preparation, how did the team perform so well? Dhatri said it was the growing number of teams and tournaments in the country. For example, in Bengaluru, there were just 50-60 players and three clubs back in 2011. But in the 2017 edition of the BUO, a total of 37 teams participated and out of them, 17 were from Bengaluru alone. Even players from Canada and Singapore took part in the tournament.
Komal Mehra, a former member of the national Ultimate team and Events Head at Usha International, which is supporting BUO, said: “When we started, there were just four-five championships all over India. Now we have eight. Earlier, we had maximum 20-22 teams in each tournament and now the number is 37. So yes, the sport has slowly grown over time. We are talking to the schools and colleges to play the sport and then we have NGO like YUWA which is supporting the sport by promoting it,” she added.
The National team’s next stop is World U-24 Ultimate Championships to be held in Perth in January next year and Dhatri has already begun preparations.
krishnendu@newindianexpress.com