Sindhu Anand, an international champion in Sepak Takraw (“kick volleyball”), has urged the State Government to extend the facility of sports quota in government recruitment for the champions in this sport as well.
Sindhu Anand from Tarikere in Chikkamagaluru district is the only person from Karnataka to win an international medal in this sport She was part of the six-member team which won a bronze medal at the Asian Beach Sepak Takraw Championships held at Qingdao in China in 2019. Besides that, she has won medals at national and state-level events. She was in the final year of B.Com when she won the international medal. Later she completed her post-graduation course. She is now preparing for competitive examinations in Bengaluru.
Speaking to The Hindu over phone, Sindhu Anand said she had been expecting to get into government service. “Considering my sports career, I should have got a post in the Police Department. But, Sepak Takraw has not been included in the list of sports considered for quota”, she said.
The Central Government and many State Governments have included it in their respective list of sports for the quota in recruitment. “Many sportspersons, who won medals like me, have got into government services in many States. But in Karnataka, the government has not considered it”, she said.
Sindhu learnt Sepak Takraw, in which players are allowed to touch the ball with their feet, head, knee and chest, while she was studying at Government First Grade College in Tarikere. Her father G. Anand, ex-member of Tarikere Town Municipal Council, and mother Kamala, a homemaker, encouraged her. Her teacher Jayakeerthi, physical education director at college, introduced her to the game. “Now hundreds of students are playing this game in the State. I appeal to the government to offer due recognition to the game”, she said.
