After all no one in her family is connected to sports field. But when Mamatha Poojary, who hails from an agriculture background family settled in a small village, called Hermunde achieves the peak at the international level sports event through her hard work, villagers with innocent eyes tend to be grateful for the achievement done by ‘their’ girl.
Having agricultural family background, overcoming all difficulties that is part and parcel of village life on an average, inculcating valor attitude in her, Mamata could make it up to the stage where hundred crore population of India could witness Indian flag held high in a foreign land.
Mamata Poojary of Hermunde village near Karkala clinched the yellow metal in women's kabaddi final match in Asian Games defeating the strong Thailand team.
Eldest Daughter
Mamata’s birthplace is Kelamaraje of Hermunde village in Karkala taluk of Udupi district. She was born to farmer Bhoja Poojary and Kitti Poojary couple. Mamata who had to put in immense effort had passion for sports, is now the ray of hope for the parents, village and the nation at large. She has a younger sister Madhura and elder brother Vishwanath.
Born in the year of 1986, Mamata finished her primary education in Hermunde, and then high school at Jyothi High School at Ajekar. Afterwards she finished her pre-university education in Muniyalu Government PU College and later pursued her occasional course. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Gokarnanatheshwara College, Mangalore. Passion for sports was the clincher for her. Due to her success in sports, she also got employment in South Railway in Hyderabad.
During her school days itself she showed signs of her capacity by bagging loads of awards by winning in volleyball, javelin, short-put, kabaddi. With this she helped the name of her institutions shine at the national level. She engaged herself more in kabaddi during her college days. Dronacharya awardee senior kabaddi player Ajekar Ramesh Suvarna encouraged her during initial days while she was studying in Government Junior College, Muniyal . Apart from uphill struggle by Mamata, it is noteworthy that Ramesh Suvarna’s eagerness towards promoting a rural talent has today put the name of a small village up at the international map. He has lauded the achievement of Mamata in international sports event.
Awards
She initiated her hunt for awards when she represented Mangalore University team at the international level kabaddi match held at Tirunelveli. She pocketed gold medal in that match. Then she won medal in All India Open Kabaddi Tournament held in Hingaat and Dadar. During the year 2006 she won gold by representing Indian women kabaddi team at the South Asia Games held in Colombo, Srilanka.
She became the golden girl in first Asian beach sports kabaddi match held at Baali, in second Asian women kabaddi championship held at Tehran of Iran and in the third women kabaddi championship held in Chennai. And now, at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.
Felicitation Galore
Various local organizations like Karkala Bus Agents' Union, Mumbai Mulund Friends Club, Karkala JCI and villagers of Hermunde felicitated this icon at Karkala taluk level literary convention. Her parents have expressed hearty gratitude for recognizing their child. They have also appealed the government to motivate her and give her the deserved provisions, in tune with foreign countries where great support is provided to their sports faculty.
Journalist Devaraya Prabhu has decided to organize a public felicitation programme in Karkala. Many people like doctors in Ajekar village, zilla panchayat vice-president Dr Santhosh Kumar Shetty, office-bearers of Kurpady Youth Club, Shivakumar Kurpady, trustee of Radha Nayak Trust, Ajekar panchayat members William, Pramod Damodar, photographer of Mumbai Laxmish Shetty Ajekar and journalist Sathyendra Ajekar among others lauded the effort of Mamata and congratulated her.
Yes, more so the time is right for the government to prove that it is in support of rural sports icon.
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