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Indian women have been living examples of grit, perseverance and strength, with stories of their achievements having prefigured for a long time within the developmental discourses of the nation. It is Indian women’s achievements in sports that have been the center of limelight presently. Needless to say, Indian sportswomen are achieving a noteworthy niche for themselves in what was hitherto a male-dominated affair. Achieving a historic feat, India fielded a whopping 56 female athletes in what was the highest female contingent being sported by India at the Olympics so far. In this regard, it is pertinent to mention the splendid performance of the Indian Women’s Hockey team at the Tokyo Olympics and their subsequent clinching of FIH (Fédération Internationale de Hockey) Star Awards in all categories. Mirabai Chanu, Mary Kom, PV Sindhu, Geeta Phogat, Mithali Raj, Dipa Karmakar, Manu Bhaker, Lovlina Borgohain are just a few of the scores of extraordinary Indian sportswomen whose consistent efforts in their respective fields have been outstanding. However, their journeys have not been the easiest, to say the least- having won long and protracted battles, emotional turmoil, patriarchal challenges and financial woes- Indian sportswomen have undeniably had to bear a disproportionate brunt in making their way through these challenges. Thus, the idea was to conduct a vivid, comprehensive and broad-based research on the travails of sportswomen in lockdown was conceptualized by Policy Center and Gender Lab, Miranda House in May 2020, in the backdrop of an unprecedented nationwide lockdown. Confined within the small spaces of our households, as the shocking news of tragedies being faced by various communities made headlines, a pertinent realization dawned upon the researchers. This realization had to do with the situation of sportswomen, hemmed within their houses due to the lockdown, as their professions and lives came to a standstill. What caught our attention, for the most part, was the fact that, sportspersons, and more so, sportswomen, were not portrayed as so much significant a community as others by the media, in its coverage of the effects of lockdown on the various communities constituting our society. This realization drove us to review the findings of schools of researchers, branches of the media, and civil society organizations into the lives of those sportswomen. Sports Women - whose lives had been battered under the diabolic effects of an untimely lockdown, their fears aggravated by the spread of a deadly contagion, their mental health deteriorating and a constant enigma of uncertain profession-related future prospects lurking over their minds. On a surprising note, however, the researchers encountered very limited pieces of research articles on the concerned section, among a plethora of literature available for other equally important categories of affected sections.

There has been relative negligence in terms of catering to the apprehensions and issues plaguing the female sports fraternity in the backdrop of the pandemic, and inadvertent errors and flip-flops in policy making that have somehow been indifferent to the exigencies of their situation. These concerns are well established by A Bowes (2020) meta-analysis, who concluded that COVID-19 pandemic impacted elite level sports where the sports women were more affected than the sportsmen. However, the challenges faced by the elite sports players may not be generalizable to the semi-professional and amateur sportswomen. In the light of this, the researchers went beyond the ‘professional-level’ of sports players and delved into specific aspects, such as CS Czymara’s (2020) analysis, which focuses on the financial hardships during lockdown for the sportspeople. Pertinent to note, however, that these researches have been quite unequitable in their analysis of the issue. Much of the research, for instance, has been put into a specific country - M Guicciardi (2020) delved into the impact of lockdown on male and female sportspeople in Italy where there were negative impacts on self-efficacy (especially in the outdoor games) and on mental wellness; JM Buldú (2020) focuses on competition faced by sportsmen and women post lockdown. Most of these studies are limited to western countries. The Indian, or even ‘developing country,’ aspect to the study is highly absent. One study, N Mathew-(2020), analyses the impact of lockdown on women but it generalizes the concerns of women from different social stratas. Sports, already being stigmatised as a career path in Indian society, make it even more disadvantageous for women to take part. The challenges faced by Indian sportswomen can be a varied experience with the interplay of gender norms and poverty along with other factors. While drawing upon certain autobiographies and biographies of Indian Sports Women, the limitations of sports as a full-fledged career choice are undeniably visible. For instance, in her autobiography ‘Unbreakable’, Mary Kom talks about the hardship and the amount of hardwork and challenges a sports woman has to face after being married and having children and at the; same time facing the hardships of poverty. Mary Kom, in her book, says ‘Even when I went for the Nationals, my shoes were tattered – not that I let it bother me.”, “In spite of our penury and deprivation, we did not ever lose faith in God.”, “Not only does this rule inconvenience players, it creates a highly avoidable rift among the coaches. Groupism and favoritism are the inevitable consequences of it.”. Her experiences clearly talk about the obstacles faced by her during the course of her career. Other books like ‘Playing to win’ by Saina Nehwal bring out the inevitable interplay of a multiplicity of roles that a woman shoulders– a daughter, sister, a student. She also talks about her rigorous training, diet, sacrifices and so on. A Different Spirit – Malathi Krishnamurthy Holla, who is a wheelchair bound athlete chronicles her struggles and her dedication in not giving up despite the hurdles she faced in life. She started the Mathru foundation to take care of differently abled children from poor backgrounds. ‘Free hit’ by Surpita Das is the story of evolution of women’s cricket in India. Its focus lies majorly on the negligent attitude of cricketing officials with regards women’s sports in India, sponsorship-related challenges and pay disparity based on gender that proliferates quite easily within the domain of sports in India. “Junior cricket for girls needs to be entrusted in very strong hands, just like it’s been done for the boys – they have Rahul Dravid in charge. The BCCI has no accurate database of the number of women players, or the performance of batsmen, bowlers, all-rounders and keepers from different states.”, “Playing for Hyderabad Senior, she should have got the best grounds to play and practice in. However, in reality, the Hyderabad U-19 boys team got better grounds to play in. Some of the boys, even senior ones, weren’t serious about the game; yet they were paid at least Rs 25,000 a match – more than what More made in an entire year! The women also had to make do with their rations: two pairs of clothes for a whole year, even though they trained every day, and two idlis per day as food throughout the year. ‘Yahi kha lo [Make do with this],’ they would be told, as if they were being done a favour.”, “About 200 spectators, college boys mostly, were in attendance to watch women – some of them in white bell-bottomed trousers, the rest in white skirts – play cricket. It would be safe to say that the crowd had turned up to watch women play in skirts.”, “. So when her neighbours saw her playing cricket in shorts with boys, they didn’t miss a single opportunity to taunt her parents: ‘Aap ki beti ka yeh awaarapanti kitne din chalega? [How long will this nonsense of your daughter go on for?]” and numerous other examples from her book clearly explain the level of gender-based discrimination a women has to face in ‘male-dominated’ sports. Thus, it certainly brings out the importance of inclusion of research related to Indian sportswomen for better hold on the various challenges faced by them. Hence, the impact of lockdown on Indian and other developing countries sportswomen must have a different experience given their stature, profitability of sports and affirmative actions by the government to promote sports, especially amongst Indian women. Nonetheless, there has been a lack of robust studies on Indian sportswomen and their challenges in various aspects owing to the COVID-19 Lockdown. This is primarily and foremostly, what led the authors of this paper to brew within the contours of their research, a wide array of aspects related to sportswomen and the fallouts of an ill-conceived lockdown on their personal and professional lives.

Research methodology is important in determining the validity and reliability of the study undertaken. Authors of this research initiated the study with an aim to explore an under-researched topic – the disruption caused by the Pandemic and its effects in the lives of Sportswomen – and to establish a cause-and-effect relationship. The research methodology adopted by the authors combined information gathered through primary and secondary sources of data collection including both qualitative and quantitative data. The researchers identified and collected contacts of pan-India sportswomen from across colleges and schools through the circulation of Google form. To seek primary data, a carefully-structured questionnaire was circulated amongst a pool of respondents. The questionnaire drew vastly upon subjective and objective questions covering a plethora of issues related to sportswomen, which might have undergone variations and overhauls in the midst of the lockdown period. Questionnaires along with the consent form were emailed to all the identified contacts. Thus, the study draws primarily upon interaction with most of the identified sports women on telephone, in-person interviews and surveys conducted in liaison with technology driven survey apps, telephonic interviews, blogs and social media accounts of sportswomen and already conducted interviews of national coaches. Furthermore the anonymity and confidentiality of respondents has been maintained by using changed names while analyzing the research findings. For secondary data collection researchers depended on guidelines of national sports organizations, reports by the Ministry of Sports and reports of national newspapers. Authors also lead further research on some aspects of existing research by conducting a detailed literature review. To cite one such source is the research undertaken by Ali Bowes, Lucy Lomax and Jessica Piasecki on the topic – ‘The impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on elite sportswomen’. Thus, information gained from all the sources was classified and represented pictorially and graphically to provide the reader with a visual understanding of the data acquired. Arguments and conclusion of the research is based on critical data analysis and has been substantiated with case studies for an optimal understanding of the issue at hand.

Part 1

The survey collected the demographic details of the respondents, and the professional sport pursued by them. The observations are as follows:

1.    69.8% of sports-women were equal to or below the age of 19 years whereas 30.2% of sports-women were above the age of 19 years.

2.    67.9% of the respondents belonged to an urban background and 33.1% belonged to semi-rural/urban or rural background.

3. The respondents play sports such as Basketball, Table Tennis, Lawn Tennis, shooting, Javelin throw, Twaekwondo, archery, athletics, horse riding, handball, Net ball, swimming, badminton, skating and Karate.

4.83% of the players were national level players and 5.7% of them were international level. The rest of them (22.6%) were district and regional/district level players.

Part II

The next part of the survey inquired the respondents about the status of their sports profession before the lockdown was proclaimed.

Majority of the respondents stated that they followed intense workout schedules, practiced regularly, and actively took part in competitions.  Pre-lockdown many responding sports-women were at the peak of their careers. Due to the pandemic, many tournaments and events were canceled for instance, as stated by (Kajal) Ojwaswini Kotwal, a national-level air pistol shooting player- “I was doing pretty well. I had an upcoming shooting tournament which got delayed and when the pandemic hit, it got canceled”. Hence, "most of them were", as said by Shruti Rathi- a national level Lawn Tennis player, “giving their best physically as well as mentally and were able to perform well in tournaments”. (Priya) Aggarwal, a national level Taekwondo player stated, “It [sports] was regular .Suddenly there was a huge break in the training session and everything got disturbed.” (Nancy) Aggarwal, another national level athlete had this to say: “The practice flow was really good and the progress was consistent. Competitions made me keep a check on my progress every now and then. But since the lockdown started, the performance is completely lost. It feels like, i [I] need to start everything again from scratch.” It is thus observed that life for sportswomen under the pandemic has been riddled with multiple absurdities and uncertainties.  This is what (Namita) Sharma, another respondent reiterated, “It [situation] was still better before as compared to now, as i (I) was able to play better as we all know that in order to play any sport we need basic human contact but after COVID sport is one of the industries that has been severely affected. “

Part III

This part of the survey delved into the issues faced by sports women in the sphere of health (both-mental and physical) during the lockdown.

1.    When asked about their general health status, the majority of them (92.45%) responded that they have experienced a sweeping deterioration in their physical health. The leading reasons stated were “lack of endurance or strength, weight gain, drop in body metabolism and irregular menstrual cycle”. Other health issues included “lower lung function, loss of muscle strength and memory, and infection due to COVID-19.” Only 2 out of 53 respondents (3.77%) opined that their health underwent no disastrous changes under the lockdown.

2.    The respondents were also worrisome about their menstrual health, 66% of the respondents complained about their stress, irregular menstrual cycle, painful cramps, bloating and cravings, heavier bleeding and sleep disruption. While 34% of the respondents did not have such complaints.

3. In the question related to their mental health, a mixed response was recorded   35 out of 53 (66.3%) respondents were not very much occupied with fears, inadequacy or uncertainty of the pandemic. 25/53 (47.16%) of  respondents were concerned about the uncertainty due to pandemic.

Part IV

This part sought to unveil the general outlook on the sports the respondents play during the pandemic.

 1.The majority of the respondents (62.3%) agreed that unavailability of training equipment, proper diet, and courts for practice has negatively impacted their practice and techniques.

 

2.    The survey asked whether the respondents were able to follow a routine that was similar to the one they followed before the pandemic. It was observed that 71.7% of them were out of schedule or a routine. Very few gave a mixed response on getting back to their schedule. 

3.             The respondents were also asked whether the availability of time shifted their focus from preparedness to enjoyment of the game  Respondents had a mixed outlook towards this. While 30 respondents (56.6%) responded in the affirmative, 22 respondents (41.5%) had the opposite response.  It was observed that they have shifted to a positive outlook towards their sports. 

Part V

The last and concluding portion of the survey wanted to know about the future prospects of the respondents in their sports career. These were subjective questions. 

1.    54.7% of sports women were looking forward to tournaments. The respondents mentioned names of tournaments they want to participate in like ITUSA, South Asian Games and some intercollege and inter-club competitions.

2.    The respondents were inquired about their new goals after the new normal that COVID-19 has brought. Most of them are focusing on themselves, working out, practicing, watching online videos for new techniques, switching to Yoga, recovering from their surgeries and injuries if any, and finding alternatives like cycling, swimming, and so on. With much headway being made in opening up spaces, some respondents are now able to access the courts with adequate COVID-19 safety precautions.

3.    Many were optimistic about their fitness regime to become more professional and intense than before. However, some anticipate that practice will not be the same as they will be cautious about the infection and avoid overcrowded space. (Mansi), a national level Basketball player notes, “ [The situation will be]  Very different definitely. Since basketball is a contact sports it is going to be difficult to bring it back to normal.”  (Richa) Shukla, a national level Shooter and Swimmer had this to say “It's tough to have all equipment available thus my practices have taken a hit. However, I [will] try to maintain my fitness levels as much as possible.” (Mahima), associating herself with Javelin Throw, notes, “After the lock down. I am not expecting my performance (or fitness) to be as good as it was before lock down while I was regularly showing up at the field. But also it is not affected very badly because I've been working out at home.”(Janki) Asapu, national level Tennis player, stated “It's tough to go back to the old normal days and resume everything as usual but I and my coaching team are trying our best to stay on track.”

4.    When asked about their experience during the lockdown, we got a mixed bag of responses. Many respondents struggled financially and for opportunities along with reduced fitness levels. “Financial crisis was one such cause that affected everyone regardless if [of whether] they play [a] sport or not. I would really want to see our government make certain policies in India's Sports Sector to help those sportspersons who are facing financial issues due to COVID 19 Pandemic.”, said (Namita) Sharma. It was difficult to connect with the coaches and teammates also. One of them pointed out the discrimination between men and women in the case of accessibility of the playing ground in small areas. She said that men were given the upperhand in the accessibility of play-grounds. Many found the pandemic to be “unmotivating, mentally exhausting and depressing” as well. However, quite a few respondents had a positive experience as they were able to spend time with their families, bringing alternatives like Yoga and online tutorials for workouts into practice. (Kajal) Kotwal, an Air Pistol shooter responded,  “Corona has affected my social ability to go out with family and friends and has made staying inside and spending more time with myself an easy task.”

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