Times of India: There’s gender bias in Olympic selection: Ritu Rani

By Manuja Veerappa & Prajwal Hegde

Ritu Rani, India’s inspirational former women’s hockey captain, was dropped from the Olympics-bound squad on grounds of attitude and fitness. But the former men’s skipper Sardar Singh, accused of rape, appears to enjoy the support of the mandarins of sport and made the Rio cut. The tale of the two captains reeks of gender bias.

What’s left to talk?” Ritu Rani asked, the shattered shards of her long-cher ished dream scattered around her. The 24-year old’s kit bag, as yet unpacked, lies in a crowded room of her home in Shahbad, Haryana, a town on the banks of the Markanda river. After practice on the morning of July 6, Ritu was told she was not part+ of the team that would travel to Rio for the Olympics and was free to leave the camp (at the Sports Authority of India, south centre, Bengaluru) whenever she wanted. The former India captain left that very evening, her heart weighing more than her considerable luggage.

Ritu, of slight build and steely will, who led the Indian women’s hockey team until three weeks ago, was instrumental in the side qualifying for the quadrennial extravaganza for the first time ever. “As much as I love the sport, I don’t know if I have it in me to pick up the stick again,” Ritu told STOI. “The Olympic dream was all that I had. Now I don’t know if I’ll play again.”

The difference in the way Sardar and I have been treated is an indication that they feel differently about women players. One senior player was protected, while the other is humiliated.

Ritu Rani

Ritu, central midfielder and the anchor of her side, was handed the unkindest cut; hers is the tale of a system and fraternity failing an athlete. On the other hand, there is Sardar Singh+ , captain of the men’s team until three weeks ago, who will travel to Rio despite facing serious allegations, because it appears he enjoys the backing of Hockey India (HI). The 30-year-old serves as a deputy superintendent with the Haryana Police. A recipient of Padma Shri, Sardar was accused of criminal intimidation and rape+ earlier this year by a British-Asian hockey player, who claimed she was his fiance.

The typically patriarchal HI+ simply relieved Sardar of captaincy so that he could ‘focus on his game’. The gifted Sardar is not a first-time offender; in 2011 he along with Sandeep Singh walked out of the national camp. They were charged with indiscipline and handed two-year bans. The duo then tendered unconditional apologies and was promptly allowed back into the side.

But Ritu ‘s engagement to singer and disc jockey Harsh Sharma on June 12 was cited as a distraction and the 5ft 2’ midfielder, weighing 52 kilos, was dropped from the team on grounds of “fitness and attitude”.
HI president Narinder Batra points at form. “There are five to six changes in the men’s team that has gone to Rio from the one which helped us qualify at the Asian Games in 2014. It is unfair to talk about bias. It is about how you perform on the day. If you have been playing well for 10 years, but not playing well when you are required, then coaches have to take a call.”

Sardar refused to comment to STOI on captaincy or making the Olympic cut before enplaning for Rio. Ritu, heartbroken, held nothing back.

“The difference in the way Sardar and I have been treated is an indication that they feel differently about women players,” a tearful Ritu says. “The charges made against Sardar are serious, but Hockey India has protected him. Although they stripped him of captaincy, they recognized the value he brings to the team and retained him. They threw allegations of immaturity, indiscipline and attitude problem at me. One senior player was protected, while the other is humiliated.”

SAME OLD STORY

This tale of two of India’s hockey captains reeks of a bias, stemming from the way society views the female athlete – despite all the strides made by PT Usha down to Saina Nehwal and Sania Mirza – she is considered very much the outsider.

Sports and performance psychologist Dr Shree Advani calls Ritu ‘a hero’. “Even in the age of two working parents, it’s assumed that the woman will cook dinner when she returns home. We need to introspect as a society, understand the bias and then act on it. What happened to Ritu should never have happened to a champion athlete.”
Ritu, who was recommended for the Arjuna Award+ as recently as May, was part of the Olympic contingent invited to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, days before she was told her services wouldn’t be required. What about her form or attitude changed within a matter of days?

NO SETTLING

Sports psychologist Dr Chaithanya Sridhar, while questioning the timing of Ritu’s ouster so close to the Olympics, which would affect the morale of the side, says women ‘needed to be smarter’. “I have to question the timing of her engagement. Of all the days on the calendar, did she have to pick a time in the lead-up to Rio to get engaged?” asks Dr Sridhar. “We (women) need to be smarter, especially when we are faced with these biases. On the other hand, if the authorities felt she was distracted they should’ve spoken to her earlier and got her back on track. You can’t drop your main player days before the team leaves for the Olympics.”

Ashwini Nachappa, the glamorous trackstar of the 80s, now a champion of athlete’s causes, took it a step further. “I didn’t face any discrimination,” she says, pausing before adding, “because I didn’t allow people to discriminate against me.I’ve always stood my ground. We have to back ourselves. One of the reasons for starting Clean Sports India was to give athletes a platform to air their grievances.”

Ashwini rues the fact that most of the present generation was too concerned about their place in the side, because of which were hesitant to back each other.

Sport in India is still largely viewed as an all-boys club, more so the team events where the men completely overshadow women. So much so that Ritu’s exit from the national side was viewed as natural progression, even by some of the male players, who asked not to be named. She had already had a long and successful career, she led India’s charge in gaining an historic qualifying berth, now she could ‘settle’ down and be the playmaker of her own family.

“Is that surprising?” Chaithanya asks of the attitude, which recently trended on social media when a TV anchor asked Sania, the world number 1 doubles player, when she was going to ‘settle down’. “I was watching that interview and I was wondering what was going on, but the truth is that it is the prevailing attitude. You can win what you want but if you are not ‘settled down’ with child and family, you are in no man’s land.”

As things stand, the ‘unsettled’ phase of young Ritu’s life is perhaps over, she can now settle down.