State Women Kabaddi Player Grazing Goats

Balangir: Once represented Odisha women’s kabaddi team. Now lack of finance has taken away her play and school. She is going to the field and graze goats. Despite having plenty of opportunities, the talent left behind by the pressure of finances and situation is Namita Bhoi (23), a tribal girl from Gambariguda village, Gudvela block, Balangir district. Not only that, luck has forced Namita to go to the field and graze goats.

Namita, the daughter of Chaturbhuj Bhoi and Baidehi Bhoi of Gambariguda village, was studying at Saintla High School. At that time, she was inspired to play kabaddi because of her interest in sports. In 2014, she became the captain of the Odisha under-14 kabaddi team and went to play in Chhattisgarh. She also excelled in kabaddi competitions held at various places in the districts of Jharsuguda, Sundergarh, Angul, Talcher, Bhubaneswar, and Sambalpur. However, the financial condition prevented her from studying.

While studying at +2 Charbhata College near Tarva, She dropped out of college. She has 5 brothers and sisters in his family. Now parents are unable to work due to chronic fatigue. While owning a piece of land, she earns some money. Poverty has taken away the art like a sport from her. Namita has not been able to forget the memory of playing kabaddi in different places. The awards and certificates are placed in a dirty bag and hung on the clay wall. Namita’s parents, who had many dreams with the encouragement of school students, teachers, and villagers, thought that the girl would make a name for herself in the Kabaddi game, but all these dreams were dashed before the lack of money. Although Namita understood that she had to work hard to make ends meet, she still had no hope for sports.