Scheduled caste talents in sports
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The authorities consulted include…
Six Dalit sportspersons you should know about/ Sport and Dev
Hima Das
Sprinter; holds the Indian national record for 400 metres (50.79 seconds, 2018 Asian Games); the first Indian athlete to win a gold medal at a track event at the IAAF World U20 Championships in 2018. (Six Dalit sportspersons you should know about/ Sport and Dev)
Jyoti, wrestler
Silver medal in the 2004 Junior Asian Wrestling Championship..
Vinod Ganpat Kambli
Cricket; played for the Indian national cricket team between 1991-2000; is one of only four Dalit cricketers who has represented the country in test cricket; also played for Boland province in the South African domestic cricket circuit
Priya Singh
Priya Singh,19, has defied odds to shoot her way to glory. Daughter of a Dalit labourer in Meerut’s Mawana subdivision, she is one of six candidates shortlisted to represent India in the 50m rifle prone at the ISSF Junior World Cup in Suhl, Germany, from June 22.
I work under a contractor and earn Rs 10,000 a month. I use this amount to feed my family, including my four children,”[her father] Brijpal Singh, 50, told TOI.
National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) secretary Rajiv Bhatia told TOI, “We fully support Priya and we are helping her out with the gun license permit so that she is able to participate in the Suhl event. As far as financial assistance is concerned, our hands are tied. The government takes care of all expenses, including ammunition, for the top three participants. The remaining have to take care of their travel and stay.”
Priya does not have a rifle of her own. Provided equipment by the National Cadet Corps (NCC), of which she was a cadet until 2017, she won 17 medals between 2014 and 2017, including gold in the All India National Shooting Championship in 2016 and 2017. However, 2017 was the last time she participated in a competition as bidding farewell to NCC meant unavailability of a gun. A recipient of Raksha Mantri Award and the prestigious Governor’s Medal, she was selected to be part of the Indian squad for the Junior World Cup in January this year.
“I received a copy of the letter of invitation written by the German Shooting Federation to National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) on May 22." Priya told TOI.
According to the Indian junior team coach at NRAI, Deepak Dubey, “She is indeed a rare talent. If given an opportunity, she can do wonders for the country. Unfortunately, financial constraints are jeopardizing her budding career. With the association’s help, she has got her visa.
Santhi Soundarajan
Athlete; holds the Indian national record for the women’s 3000 meters steeplechase. In 2006, she was stripped of her silver medal in the women’s 800-meter race at the Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, after failing a sex verification test. (Six Dalit sportspersons you should know about/ Sport and Dev)
Swapna Barman
Won gold in the heptathlon event at the Asian Games in 2018,
Thulasi Helen / Thulasi Ekanandam
Boxer; won gold in 2000 at age 14, at the YMCA Boxing Championship in New Delhi; she once defeated Mary Kom
PT Usha
Athlete. Tthe first Indian woman to reach an Olympic final [in 1984, at the Los Angeles Olympics], where she missed out on the bronze medal in the women’s 400-metre hurdles by 1/100th of a second.
Only according to Six Dalit sportspersons you should know about/ Sport and Dev is PT Usha a Dalit. No other site has corroborated this. Therefore, her Scheduled caste status is not certain.
See also
The Scheduled Castes: Contemporary issues
The Scheduled Castes: statistics
Scheduled castes in Indian cricket teams
Scheduled caste talents in sports
Scheduled Caste lead characters in Hindi-Urdu cinema
Scheduled caste talents in Indian cinema
...and countless British-era articles about individual castes and tribes. Just click 'Communities' in the 'Categories' box below this article or enter the name of the caste or tribe in the Search box at the top of this page
