TENKASI: In a real ‘Dangal’ unfolding in the parched hinterlands of Tenkasi district, 13 swashbuckling girls, all daughters of beedi workers, are kicking up a storm by trouncing their opponents in kabaddi court without losing their cant—winning admiration, approbation and awards on the way.
The girls of the Ilampuyal (young storm) KLM team, who initially found it difficult even to afford shoes and jerseys of their own, have won more than 25 prizes with their exceptional show in matches held across Tamil Nadu over the past two-and-a-half years. Nine members of the students’ team of Ayothiyapuripattinam Government High School will now represent Tenkasi district in the under-14 category in state-level kabaddi meet.
Speaking to TNIE, G Soundar, one of their kabaddi coaches, said the team of girls, all aged between 12 and 13, has earned such a reputation that a few sports enthusiasts from Erode travelled 360km to Kalathimadam village recently to study their kabaddi techniques and lifestyle.
Erode industrialist Gunasekaran and local DMK union secretary M Sivabalan have now adopted the team to sponsor all their upcoming matches, Soundar said. “During the pandemic in 2020, we started coaching these girls after convincing their parents who were worried about their girls rolling up their sleeves for a fight. We converted a vacant plot into a playground for their training,” he said.
‘In several kabaddi matches, our girls won against opponents who were senior to them’
“We got sponsors for buying shoes and sports gear. Since all these girls were studying in different government schools, we found it difficult to take them to matches held in faraway locations. Hence, we admitted all of them to Ayothiyapuripattinam government school,” coach Soundar said. Another coach T Arjunan said, “Event organisers hold ‘open-to-all’ kabaddi matches in which mainly higher secondary school and college girls take part.
After seeing our girls, most organisers refuse to allow us to take part. We had to beg with organisers to get their nod. But in several matches, our girls had come up trumps against opponents who were senior to them in age and stronger than them,” he said. Soundar said after their stupendous run in matches held in government and aided schools at the zonal-level, the nine girls part of the district’s under-14 team and will represent Tenkasi district in the state-level match to be held in Tiruchy on February, 2023.