Sikh Women and Sports
Ashpal Kaur Bhogal
TLH has covered several promising athletes in the Sikh community. Basketball player Darsh Singh, Football player Nuvraj Bassi, and Boxer Andrew Singh Kooner. The list of Sikh athletes is fortunately growing, including Fauja Singh, Pardeep Nagra, and Subaig Singh – some of whom we have covered and others we haven’t had a chance to. Jodha recently updated us on the Bhullar Brothers, potential NBA-ers, Sim Bhullar and younger brother Tanveer Bhullar, both 7-foot-somethings.
The thing about this list, however, is that all of these athletes are men.
It begs the question, then, where is the representation of Kaurs in sports today? After watching news coverage of the growing number of women playing kabaddi in Punjab, and with the popularity of the Women’s World Cup finals this past weekend, it made me think about the importance of sports in the lives of young Sikh girls. Much has been written about why sports are critical for young girls.
A large body of research shows that sports are associated with all sorts of benefits, like lower teenage pregnancy rates, better grades and higher self-esteem… separate studies from two economists offer some answers, providing the strongest evidence yet that team sports can result in lifelong improvements to educational, work and health prospects… Using a complex analysis, Dr. Stevenson showed that increasing girls’ sports participation had a direct effect on women’s education and employment. [link]
Perhaps the only competitive activity we have for women right now is giddha. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love doing giddha as much as the next Punjaban and think it plays an important purpose in developing a sense of community and support for women, but perhaps we also need to cultivate avenues for young Sikh girls – who are interested in sports – to be able to play on teams and even professionally (à la Bend it like Beckham).
A quick google search results in little information about professional Sikh female athletes, particularly in the diaspora (there is some coverage of Sikh women and sports in India, see here and here). However, last year we did hear about Ashpal Kaur Bhogal, who became the first Sikh female to represent England Women’s hockey. Ashpal, from Leeds, England (my neck of the woods!) started playing hockey at the age of six and was even awarded “Most Promising Female Athlete” by the Mayor of London. Of note, hockey was not the only sport that she participated in – she was also involved with tennis and running. Below you’ll see a clip from an interview with Ashpal – when asked what advice she would give to other young girls who have an interest in sports, she says “Get out there, fulfill your dream. Be the best you can. Get as much support as you can from friends and family… and improve from there.” Ashpal also speaks about her faith and the importance of being raised doing kirtan and paath. Perhaps one day Ashpal will be a source of inspiration for other young Kaurs aspiring to be athletes.
So i ask our readers, do you know of other professional Sikh female athletes? Do you know of any young women who aspire to be involved in sports? What’s helping or holding them back? Do share!
52 Responses to “Sikh Women and Sports”
I find these type of articles surprising and full of ignorance by Sikhs living outside India.It looks to me that for them the only Sikhs live in UK,USA or Canada ,they totally forget that the largest population of Sikhs live in India and Many of them have acheived much more than NRI sikhs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manjit_Kaur
Manjit kaur one India's fastest Athlete and Gold medal winner in 400 metre relay in commonwealth games
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surinder_Kaur_(field…
Surinder kaur India's current women hockey captain
Apart from these 2 India's commonwealth squad was full of kaurs representing India in various fields
……yeah and most of them have been exposed as drug cheats, KDS…..and been stripped of their medals. Perhaps when Sikh girls in England, Canada or America want to learn how to pump illegal drugs into their bodies in order to reach speeds and strengths equivalent to 12 year old Bulgarian girls, they will take lessons from the Miss Kaurs representing Hindustan.
On a more positive note, with the growing Sikh community in sports mad Australia…..its only a matter of time before the land of the convicts produces a few world beating Kaurs.
Blighty
Only 1 Sikh Girl Mandeep Kaur is found guilty of using drugs along with 2-3 other Hindu Girls.Its great to hear from a Sikh living outside India that How all Indian Sikh sportswomen are cheats
Does that mean you're going to pretend you have no knowledge of the way that your heroine / role model Manjeet Kaur has been rather cleverly avoiding being tested ?
Anyway……discussing Hindoostan and sports in the same sentence makes no sense whatsoever, the 2 are just so incompatible, so………back to the subject :
I live not too far from a High School. When driving past I often notice the girls when they're doing sports such as netball etc (girls don't play football here in England). I'm not a pervert….its just natural to look when you hear teenage girls screaming. Thats what I told the judge anyway. No but seriously what I always notice is how 80% of the girls around these parts of London wear a salwar kameez for sports…with only the few hindu and white girls wearing shorts or skirts. No Sikh girl from around here is ever gonna make it big in sports. The schools all have regulation salwar kameez versions of their uniform…..and salwar kameez versions of the physical education kit. ………and most of our girls, despite being 3rd or 4th generation British born…..prefer the salwar kameez to the wearing of shorts or skirts. very little chance of a Sikh girl excelling in sports round these parts.
" ..and most of our girls, despite being 3rd or 4th generation British born…..prefer the salwar kameez to the wearing of shorts or skirts"
Seriously? I find that to be surprising. I played sports as a young girl living in Yorkshire (as did my sisters) and we would wear shorts, no problem. And that was many many years ago. I'm actually pretty surprised that that's the norm in London of all places…
Things are changed here sis. Not only do they now have electricity in Yorkshire but generally…..young south Asian girls are far more 'traditional' than their mothers. Especially among the muslim Punjabis……..you find middle aged women with loose hair and western clothes……but their teenage daughters are far more conservative and desperately trying to 'teach' their mother to 'show some respect'. Basically…..I think what we're seeing here……especially in London, in contrast with the poor backward north…….is a 3rd generation community comfortable enough in itself to reject notions of what they 'should' do……..or 'should' wear. Excercising their own individual right to wear what they feel culturally comfortable in rather than what society says they should. Basically its a question of culture. I think there are now so many south Asians in England…..who are so imbedded in the population….that they (we) feel we have the right to….and are confident enough, to actually form the culture of the land rather than conform to others interpretaion of culture. As such….virtually every high school around here has 2 versions of a school uniform : the skirt one and a salwar kameez one.
I'll give you an example ; My mum was born here in London too, and we have school photographs of her playing sports in shorts. But my wife…..my cousins……my neices etc….only swim in muslim ladies swim clubs …..and work out (wearing tracksuits) in south Asian ladies only gym nights.
Its called free will. And the confidence enough to be able to assert your free will. A vast swath of Sikh girls in England have made their own conscience free will decision to keep their legs covered……even for sports. I'm not a fool. I realise and understand that alot of it has to do with the muslim influence in England…..bearing in mind that British born Punjabi muslims are the most radical, extreme, politicaly minded muslims on earth…….but I still salute the way our girls here are strong enough to be able to make their own decision.
KDS, within the post i have linked to two articles which discuss Sikh female athletes living in India. For those of us living in diasporic communities, it seems that young children look for role-models who are similar to them – ie. other Sikhs who have grown up outside India. That is why the conversation focused mainly on identifying Sikh athletes in North America and the UK. However, i am aware and thus made a point to mention that there are a growing list of femal athletes from India too.
Sundari
I am sorry but I find your arguement quite weird .Why can't a Sikh Girl born In UK or North america
can see an Indian Sikh sportswoman as role model? Just because her upbring was different by this logic urban Sikhs of India will say they cannot see rural Punjabi Sikhs as role model in sports because their upbrining too was different ,also many castist arguement can be used that a Tarkhan cannot see a jat sikh as role model or jat sikh cannot see urban sikh because they all have different upbringing
I think your argument is weird that we should feel obliged to feel like someone is a role model simply because they are from India. I have several role-models from India. They happen to be activists and not necessarily athletes, but i don't pick and choose based on country. I said that it "seems" that young girls going into sports are going to know more about role-models within their countries. I'm saying this as a Sikh woman. Your comments have diverted the conversations on this thread from celebrating/encouraging Sikh Women in Sports to this being a conversation about India vs the diaspora, which it is not and it is not appreciated.
Nowhere I am saying that you should feel obliged that someone is from India then He/She should be considered as role model.Sikhs already have small numbers so if anybody wants to pick a role model from within community then he/she should not look at his/her country.Sikhs all over India were very happy to see Monty Panesar and they will be very happy to see if Sim Bhullar or any other will make it to NBA and will consider them as their role model.At present largest population of Sikhs live in INdia and they have largest representation in Sports
.its only a matter of time before the land of the convicts produces a few world beating Kaurs. FAKAZA
Here's a link to an article about Divneet Kaur, who played NCAA tennis for Whitman College: http://www.whitman.edu/whitman/index.cfm?objectid…
Great addition to the list! Thanks for the link.
Sikh women are held back in sports mostly due to their cultural/religious constraints.Since most of the track and field events,and other disciplines require somewhat skimpy clothing,sikh girls competing in salwaar kammez cannot effectively traine hence no world class sikh women athletes.When was the last time any one heard or saw sikh women compete in swimming or beach volleyball?.Back in early 70's there was a girl named Sarabjit Sandhu who used to compete in 400 mts in asian games and she was very good at it.She married her german coach and left india.I still think about her and her fiery legs/thighs.So if the sikh women want to compete in world class sports shed off some of your inhibitions,pounds and fat and surely there will be no stopping them.
Sisters Jasjit and Amrit Kaur Bhinder – who competed in NCAA fencing:
http://americanturban.com/2011/04/10/amrit-kaur-b…
Awesome! Thank you for adding them to our list.
In reply to those comments above that are narrow-minded:
Sikh women are and have always been strong and fierce competitors in sports. My mother is an ex-olympian. She represented india and no @blighty singh she was not on steroids or drugs. She is and has always been a role model for me. I have played sports throughout my education, nowhere near recognizable standards, but wearing the clothing was nothing my family or I were ever ashamed of. My childhood was split between canada and the US and in neither of these 2 countries (of the 3 earlier discussed) did I ever see a single Sikh woman hiding herself behind a salwar kameez during sports. Amritdhari Sikh women (girls in my high school) proudly wore their skirts and shorts on unshaved legs.
More to the point of this article:
Although I personally do not know any Sikh girls that are stellar athletes currently, the links provided by the well-versed Sikhs above are inspiring and enlightening – Thank you for sharing!!
Wo said anything about "hiding" behind a salwar kameez ? You, MDK,my ignorant bigoted friend, are no better than the average Fox News anchor or local branch member of the ku klux klan. I said to you how here in London FREE brown girls……have made their own FREE INDIVIDUAL EDUCATED choices……..Choices TOTALLY DIFFERENT to the choices their own mothers made……Have shown the INDIVIDUAL MENTAL STRENGTH to reject peer pressure to accept 'white' notions of what culture should be.
If I were one of those free liberated Sikh girls I would say it was in fact YOU who was "hiding". YOU who is so ashamed of Sikh girls who are on a higher liberated plane and possess so much more confidence in their culture than you………while you try desperately to 'fit in'.
You don't have to agree with them but for you to dismiss them as 'hiding' behind a salwar kameez is nothing short of disgusting.
I have said before and I will say again. There is no such thing as the culture of the Sikh diaspora. The England Sikhs have a completely different way of thinking to the north American Sikhs. In England., where subversive and alternative free thought has always been more natural…….you find a Sikh community that goes out of its way NOT to fit in. The reason for this is confidence,The national culture in all 3 of our countries : England, America and Canada, has been shaped by successive immigrants. In all 3 of our countries the host nation has accepted and incorporated elements of the culture of many different nationalities. All….except OURS. For some reason we are the ones expected to feel a bit ashamed of our culture and quickly adapt to theirs. Now…….there is a very good reason why England has the most extreme muslims in the entire world……..a good reason why the 6th and 7th London born Irish are more Irish than the Irish……..In this country, a south Asian doesn't feel he owes the white man anything……he feels the white man owes him. South Asians….including the Sikhs…..feel strong and confidence enough to make their own culture the national culture. The tables here are turned. The white man doesn't like it when the table is turned on him. He likes his traditional position at the head of the table. But whats your excuse MDK ? IS it lack of self respect / self loathing.
Anyway….as I've noticed from reaction on this topic…..most of you are see no evil hear no evil bury your heads in the sand types. Pretend to be educated…..pretend to like knowledge…..but when someone tells you something you didn't know you shoot him because you don't like to hear it.
I am very sorry that I even told you that when I pass my local high school during sports time….most of the girls are wearing the salwar kameez version of the school kit. I am sorry knowledge upsets you so much. Please….go back to living in the dark.
I think a lot of people have made great points about sikh women participating in sports. And I dont think ignoring stories like a sikh olympian in hockey or track and field is smart simply because they are from India. Sikhs and Sikhs no matter where they are from, they are a minority group in every country including India. I am by no means a supporter of India (in fact I am quite the opposite), but I view the accomplishments of my brothers and sisters as equal regardless of where they are from and if we ignore the accomplishments of sikh athletes in India then we are doing them a great injustice
Your point is well taken – but can we bring the conversation back on track. What are your thoughts about how we can encourage Sikh women to play sports? Do you know of any (either in India or outside of India)?
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