Kolkata: Women athletes have often made the headlines in recent times. A lot of the credit goes to the recently concluded Women’s World Cup where the Indian women made the country stand and applaud their performance.
Last year, it was Dipa Karmakar, who fought against a lot of odds to represent the country at the Rio Olympics where she had narrowly missed out on a bronze medal.
Well, not only India but there are a lot of other countries where the women have a lot of potential to achieve big and better things but unfortunately many aren’t able to fulfill that potential due to lack of opportunities and encouragement.
The same was the case with young Zannatul Ferdous Sumi from Bangladesh who too had a lot of boundaries to cross over to make it big for her country and she did so, emphatically.
Battling against all odds, she indeed made a statement by clinching the gold medal in the -50kg category Karate competition.
SportsCrunch caught up the girl who just made her country proud in front of eminent Karate champions and of course, the hundreds of people who were present at the third International Karate Championship held at Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata.
“In countries like India, women are encouraged to take up sports but it is not the same in Bangladesh. Due to many boundaries, women aren’t able come out of the darkness. But I am happy that I have broken the chains and have made it to the big stage,” said Zannatul.
Talking of her inspiration and support, she said, “I am thankful to my mother for always encouraging me and having my back. It feels great to represent Bangladesh here,” she added.
An official of the Bangladesh Karate Federation (BKF) was also present at the event who was indeed proud of the achievements of these girls. Speaking to SportsCrunch, he said, “Bangladesh is slowly moving ahead in these disciplines of sports and we are indeed proud of these achievements.”
The third International Karate Championship saw a total of over 2500 contestants from countries like Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Iran, Bhutan, Bangladesh and hosts India take part in an IPL style competition where they would represent the small clubs of which they are a part of.