Kabaddi star Mamatha Poojary warmly welcomed at Mangalore airport

Kabaddi star Mamatha Poojary warmly welcomed at Mangalore airport

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Dec 1: Mamatha Poojary, a member of the women’s Kabaddi team that bagged the gold medal at the recently held Asian Games, arrived at Bajpe Airport at 6:35 p.m. on Dec 1, Wednesday. She was given a grand welcome.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mamatha Poojary is one of the gifted players of the Indian women’s kabaddi team which completed a memorable Asian Games debut by clinching the gold medal with a comprehensive win over Thailand in the finals in Guangzhou.

Mamatha, a native of Hermunde near Karkala, works at Central Railways in Secundarabad. She studied in Hermunde Primary School and then at Jyothi High School in Ajekar and finally at Government Junior College at Muniyal. She got her BA degree at Gokarnanatheshwara College in Mangalore.

 

According to her father, Mamatha was initially a volleyball player, who was later encouraged by her coach Ramesh Suvarna to practice Kabbadi when she was studying at Government Junior College in Muniyal. She also received the encouragement of Ramakrishna Hegde, the physical director at Government Junior College, Muniyal, and Purushottam, the physical director at Gokarnanatheshwara College. Ever since, she focused on Kabbadi and attended a number of sports camps.

A bachelor in Arts, Mamatha comes from a poor family but pursued education and performed at sports to prove her mettle. The nation can now boast of her performance as a team member of the national Kabaddi team, thanks to the local Kabaddi Association. The association helped her make it to the state selection camp in Bangalore.

The Indians team beat Thailand 28-14 in a dominating performance to clinch the inaugural women’s kabaddi gold of the Asian Games.

The Indians led 17-7 at half-time after Thailand failed to secure a single lona against India’s two. The Indian team also got a couple of bonus points in the opening half.

The second half followed a similar script and India once again dominated by securing a couple of lonas and getting 20 outs to emerge triumphant.

 

She told reporters that women’s kabaddi is neglected in India and expressed hopes that her achievements will kindle the people’s interest in it. Revealing that the central government has awarded her a sum of Rs. 10 lakh, she said that all the allegations that the central government does not support athletes and sports persons are false.