Introduction

Located in the northeastern part of India, Assam is famous for tea gardens, culture and rivers. Besides the beautiful scenery, the state is gradually turning into the wonderland for women in sports. The leading females from Assam are coming out and staking their grounds in arenas that were previously dominated by men.

Utilizing the Book: Brief Histories of Women Athletes to Understand Gender Relations

Assam has been par producing talented women athletes. Dutee Chand, the “Dhing Express” of track and field and Lovlina Borgohain, the Olympic bronze medallist in Boxing in 2020 have not only performed well but have set a high benchmark for girls of Assam to perform. It also proves that their success is not due to luck; rather it indicates the potential of Assam to produce more talented women sports persons with the growing culture of sports enthusiasm in the state.

Local Tournaments: Driving Change

Recently, women’s sports tournaments are getting popular in the villages and townships of Assam. These are not only about getting the trophies; these are about building the environment for success of girls and women. Be it Football, Volleyball, Athletics or Kabaddi, Women’s Tournaments are bringing the change in rural regions.

For instance, women’s football tournaments that are held in this region from such places like Jorhat and Dibrugarh attract massive turnouts. At some sports, one is likely to find whole villages watching women compete. It also gets support from the community which brings the disintegration of the traditional gender roles and demonstrate to everyone what women are capable of in the sporting fraternity.

Government and NGO Support

The government and Non-Governmental Organizations have acted as enhancer in increasing women’s participation in sports in Assam. Assam benefitted massively by the Khelo Reputed program, which is aimed at identifying talents in villages across the country with an intention of grooming the talents for the national and international sporting events. Also, there are some local organisations which have acted as the tournament organisers, the venue providers, and mentors for young girls.

For instance, the Assam State Sports Council remained instrumental in the organization of women’s sports event on district levels. These efforts are meant to scout talent at an early age so as to build a talent base that will be viable to take part in the bigger tournaments for Assam and also India.

On this basis, let us consider the topic titled The Growth of Local Sports.

Peasant girls are also coming to the forefront and Assamese games and festivals that were once practiced are now in revival period. Sports like dhopkhel which is a kind of hockey and koni-juj which is an egg fighting have been adopted and included in the women tournaments. This way, both the modern and tradiontal sports are being promoted with a bi-product of preserving culture and even women’s rights in Assam.

Challenges and the way Forward

Despite progress, challenges remain. Lack of capital, inadequate facilities especially in the rural setting, and remaining social injustice still deny some of the aspiring female athletes their breakthroughs. But gradual shift is taking place due to the support comes from families, communities and the government.

Thus, the Assam and the rest of India can learn from as the state goes on to groom their female athletes. With sports, women of Assam are not only getting medals, they are gaining rights, equal opportunities and the privilege to dream. The future of women’s sports in Assam seems to be very bright and this will lead to the coming of more empowered female athletes.

Out of these, the Assam’s vision is more impressive as it aims to encourage the local and popular sports. Traditional games such as kabaddi and teer (archery) are widely practiced in Assam with special focus on conducting tournaments to stage the revival of the traditional form of sports in women. This tries to save the culture of Assam, and also provide women the opportunity to specialize in sports related to its culture.

A yearly competition is held in Assam called the Assam Traditional Sports Meet; it has an exclusively women’s category through which women participate in traditional games. Besides this event revolves its theme around the athletic ability of Assamese women that also helps in connecting the dots between culture and sports.

Hurdles and Future Path

Despite progress, challenges remain. Discrimination, lack of facilities, and inadequate funding are mostly a hindrance to numerous women athletes in today’s generation. But change is coming. The female sex is being encouraged to practice sports while women’s sports events has more participations each year.

Such events have also received coverage in the local papers and online platforms that focuses on the achievements of women. This, I believe is the reason we need to make people sit up and help change the mindset towards supporting their daughters in sports.

Closing Thoughts

There is however, a ray of hope in the fact that concerns and complaints made to organizations are not beyond serious consideration, they can be given a serious hearing, not in the sense that every concern or complaint will attract an immediate remedy or redress, but the management and leaders of these organizations realize that people do have concerns and complaints and that they merit a hearing.

Women’s sports events in Assam are not just games; they are the shifting of gender parity and Women Empowerment. These competitions are molding a generation of women who are capable of standing up for themselves and are brave enough to face all odds which come their way.

Though women are slowly coming into the field, for Assam’s bright future, women in sports are slowly becoming the new normal. Shouts from the bleachers, fierce looks on the players’ faces and the self-sufficiency that comes with being a pride of the community it proves that the women of Assam are not simply engaging in sports but writing history.

The number of women in sports, the encouragement from local communities and heart warming success stories coming from Assam leads one to believe that it is a state propelling the growth of women in sports. And as these tournaments expand and advance, they’re doing more than altering the fabric of sports; they are recasting the perception of what women are capable of.