Olympian Manu Bhaker Praises ASMITA Leagues For ‘Changing Mindsets’ And Boosting Women Empowerment

During the launch of the social media handles of ASMITA women’s leagues, the Hon’ble Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports, Srimati Raksha Khadse, felicitated members of the bronze-winning Asian (under-20) rugby women’s Indian squad here on Tuesday.

ASMITA (Achieving Sports Milestone by Inspiring Women Through Action) is part of Khelo India’s gender neutral mission to promote sports among women through leagues and competition.

Smt. Khadse said it was time to have a unique identity for ASMITA. Since its inception in 2021, ASMITA has surpassed key milestones. Overall, 1886 ASMITA leagues have been conducted so far with National Sports Federations and states.

A whopping 2.14 lakh women have played some ASMITA league in some corner of India. Leagues have been conducted in 32 different sports across 500+ districts and 600+ cities, including far-flung villages in Arunachal Pradesh, tribal regions and border areas.

“This shows the government’s intention to bring young women to limelight. Through social media, we can penetrate even further and raise awareness for women wanting to play a sport,” said Smt. Khadse.

Smt. Khadse felicitated six members - Dumuni Marndi, Bhumika Shukla, Ujjwala Ghughe, Guriya Kumari, Sandhya Rai, Amandeep Kaur – of the Indian women’s rugby team. The bulk of the Indian national squad that won a historic bronze in the Asian U-20 championship in Rajgir, Bihar earlier this year, emerged from ASMITA Leagues.

“We want to create more opportunities for women and tap from the grassroots level. The ministry has a proper structure to groom talent and our women need the attention they deserve. We also have to look at all sports and ensure that people can make careers. Look at cricket, they introduced equal pay for men and women. We have to try and apply the same formula to all sports,” said Smt Khadse.

Present on the occasion was celebrated shooter and double medallist at Paris Olympics 2024, Manu Bhaker. The 23-year-old pistol shooter lauded the ASMITA programme that started in 2021 and is one of the biggest leagues in the world for women in India.

“We women are demonstrating what we are capable of. In the last two Olympics, women athletes have done incredibly well and if we have to do well in the 2036 Olympics, programmes like ASMITA and Khelo India are the way to go,” said Manu, adding: “More importantly, these leagues are changing mindsets, especially in rural India where women don’t come to sport naturally. We should do everything to cheer for our girls because they can do equally well like the men.”

ASMITA (Achieving Sports Milestone by Inspiring Women Through Action) is part of Khelo India’s gender neutral mission to promote sports among women through leagues and competition. As such, the Sports Authority of India supports National Sports Federations to conduct Khelo India women’s leagues across multiple age groups at both zonal and national levels. Started in 2021, ASMITA leagues not only aim to increase the participation of women in sports but to utilise the leagues as a platform for identification of new talent across the length and breadth of India.