Women’s sports in India are not as famous as those played by men, be it cricket or hockey. Even though there is a Women’s National Basketball team in India.
Did you know that India has its own Women’s National Basketball team? If you did not know this, then you are not the only one. Most of the country’s population is not aware of the national team.
It is nothing new that men’s sports teams are more popular than women’s teams in the country.
Take any sport you wish: Cricket, hockey, basketball, or football. You will be able to tell at least two names from the men’s teams. But when it comes to the women, you will think twice before saying any name.
In this article, we will be focussing on the Women’s Basketball Team of the country.
Women’s National Basketball: India
In 1936, the Women’s National Basketball team joined the FIBA, the International Basketball Federation.
The team was also promoted to Division A in the 2017 Women’s Asia Cup that was organized by FIBA after they beat Kazakhstan in the Final match.
It was the qualifying match for the Women’s Basketball World Cup that was held in Spain in the year 2018.
Current Women’s National Basketball Players
These are the names of the current members of the roster team that plays for the nationals:
- Vaishnavi Yadav
- Shruthi Arvind
- Stephy Nexon
- Sathiya Senthil
- Navaneetha Pattemane
- Anumaria Chenganamattathil
- Shireen Limaye
- Sahana Shivamogga
- Pushpa Senthil
- Madhy Kamari
- Nishanthi Masilamani
Why Does No One Speak About Women’s National Basketball Team?
As we already know, in any sport, the women’s team does not receive any attention. Basketball being one of the least popular sports in the country that is covered by the media, is no different. It also falls under the veil of oblivion.
Even though in schools and colleges, it is a very popular sport that is played by both boys and girls, it is not so popular in the mainstream sports field. That is the reason why it is not so much under the limelight.
Mithali Raj – Indian women cricketer and successful team captain
In India, schools and colleges follow all the rules that are stated by the FIBA.They have four quarters that go on for 10minutes each. But in the case of girl’s matches, this time limit is decreased by the referees to a maximum of 5 minutes.
They go against the rules set by FIBA in order to finish the match. Even if the girls want to play for a longer time, they are not allowed to. All they can do in that time span is probably just dribble the basketballs. One of the main reasons beyond this is that the boys need longer time to play.
Is this another example of gender inequality?
Did you see the poster of the 71st Senior National Basketball Championship, 2022, that has been up on the main website of the Basketball Federation of India?
In the poster, you will be able to see that there are pictures of only two women basketball players. The rest are all boys.
Women’s Sport And Its Little Popularity
Ever since the beginning, women’s sports, in particular, had very little to do with popularity. They never received the limelight or exposure that was showered upon the male members of any sport.
In the year 1972, the ruling party of that time, Congress, passed the civil rights Statute. With this, there was a ban on any educational institution that received any federal money by discriminating on the basis of gender.
Because of this law, the schools were, and still are, supposed to treat all sports equally, irrespective of gender.
Even though the capital that is being invested in the women’s sports team is much higher than it was before, we are still not even close to the goal of equality.
PT Usha – Golden Girl of Indian Athletics
Even if there is certain unpopularity between women’s sports in the country, is the apparent gap between the two genders in the field of sport justified?
The answer is no.
In India, the media coverage when it comes to women’s sports is next to negligible. This is even more, when it comes to basketball.
Even though there are more than enough channels on the television to watch sports and discuss news regarding sports, the women’s Basketball team gets no coverage. This is one of the main reasons why the majority of the country does not know the names of the players who are representing the country on an international level.
Is It Only The Media At Fault?
While we do need to talk about how the media does not cover the women’s sports teams in the country, there is another thing that needs to be kept in mind.
Are the people of the country interested to know about the women’s Basketball team?
The main job of the media is to make the people of the country aware of everything that is happening in the country and outside of the country. But at the same time, the media and the news channels only show the people what they want to see.
Final Words
The National Women’s Basketball Team is the representative team of the country. Even though they have achieved a lot of things and play internationally, most people are unaware of the existence of the team.
Blame it on the people of the country who do not pay heed to women’s sports or to the media who do not cover the events of the team.
There is only one outcome; that is our loss. It is time that we become more involved in women’s sports in the country.
| Are you an
Entrepreneur or Startup? Do you have a Success Story to Share? SugerMint would like to share your success story. We cover entrepreneur Stories, Startup News, Women entrepreneur stories, and Startup stories
|
If you want to stream and watch the matches online, you can check out Streamonsport. This is a great site for all basketball lovers.