Talismanic batter Virat Kohli spoke out about the shift in perception of how people regard women and girls in sports in India, stating that women’s sport is an important part of the sporting culture that caters to everyone in the country.
Over the previous ten years, athletes such as Manu Bhaker, P.V. Sindhu, Mirabai Chanu, and Lovlina Borgohain have won gold for India at the Olympics, giving a significant boost to the country’s women’s sports. In terms of cricket, India’s women’s team’s appearance in the 2017 ODI World Cup final in England elevated women’s cricket to the forefront. “They acted as their own catalysts, drawing attention to themselves. I witnessed it happen over a 6-7-year period. You could see that belief in the way they started playing, and then people began to engage in it frequently.”
“And eventually it got to a point where, you know, the commercials got better, money was injected into the women’s game, and then you had the WPL,” Kohli said at the RCB Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit on Saturday.
The U19 squad winning back-to-back global titles has also fuelled the rise of women’s cricket in India, as has the Women’s Premier League (WPL), whose final will be played on Saturday between the Mumbai Indians and the Delhi Capitals at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium.
Kohli went on to say that women’s sports in India need more support and infrastructure development to keep them on track.
“Looking at men, the improvement of sport in any country must be done together. Women’s sports are an important element of sports culture, and we have a lot of data on them, not just cricket but all of them.
“Throughout the year, we are developing individual activities in tennis, badminton, wrestling, and boxing.” So, I believe it is absolutely headed in the right path, but it need additional support and infrastructural development,” he added.
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