UDUPI: Mamatha Poojary is one of the proud kabaddi players in the Indian women’s Kabaddi team that clinched the gold at the Asian Games in Guangzhou.
A bachelor in Arts, Mamatha comes from a poor family but pursued education and performed at sports to prove her mettle.
The nation can now boast of her performance as a team member of the national Kabaddi team, thanks to the local Kabaddi Association.
The association helped her make it to the state selection camp in Bangalore.
“After PUC she was about to discontinue her studies and sit at home due to poverty. She was good at kabaddi and so we approached her family. We arranged for her trip, along with her brother, to Bangalore for a state-level selection camp. After she got selected, Gokarnanatheshwar College in Mangalore came forward and offered her a seat, where she pursued her graduation and sports education,” president of Udupi District Sports Association Sudarshan told Express, when contacted.
“It is purely her achievement, we simply identified her talent,” he recalled when he honoured Mamatha during the national-level kabaddi selection camp, held under the auspices of the Association in Udupi.
Born to Bhoja Poojary and Kitty Poojarthi of Hermunde in Karkala taluk, Mamatha pursued her primary education in Hermunde Primary School and later studied at Jyothi High School in Ajekar. She did her PU in Government PU College, Muniyal. After obtaining a BA degree, Mamatha joined the Central Railways at Secundarabad under the sports quota.
Poverty was so severe in her family that to continue Mamatha’s sports career, her brother, Vishwanath Poojary, had to discontinue education after SSLC so that he could earn for the family.
Initially, she played both volleyball and kabaddi.
At PU level, Ramakrishna Hegde and at degree-level Purushottham were her Kabaddi coaches, respectively.
“She is very good in riding. She used to be a bonus rider for her team. In the Commonwealth Games too she proved a champion rider by securing bonus points and got the best rider award,” said Vishwanath adding, “Her fellow players used to call her Bonus Lady.” Hermunde is a remote village and Mamatha used to walk over 2.5 km everyday for College. And after all the struggle, when the team won the gold, was ecstatic.
Along with Mamatha’s family members, the villagers too watched all the kabaddi matches live. To ensure uninterrupted games, they had even arranged for a generator for power back -up due to frequent power cuts.
On Saturday, local BJP and Congress leaders visited their house, distributed sweets, fruits and burst crackers to celebrate her victory. They even felicitated Mamatha’s parents and members of her family.