Kabbaddi Match at Salia Sahi slum

A Kabbaddi match was held between Young Sporting Club and the Kalinga Stadium team in the Salia Sahi slum on June 23, 2013. The match was inaugurated by Mrs Subarna Ghosh, President, SNEH, and Mr Khagendra Mohanty, President AG Colony.

The match was a part of the youth programme, initiated by Society for Nature, Education and Health (SNEH) for slum girls in Bhubaneswar with support from the Mercury Phoenix Trust, Switzerland. The programme’s objective is to improve women’s social status through sports along with promoting HIV/AIDS education for girls.

Ms Sunita Bohidar and Ms Sanhita Das were two coaches of the teams, respectively. The match was refereed by Mr Alekha Narayan Srichandan and Mr Bishnu Prasad Jena, both National level referees.

Young Sporting Club team was the winners and the Kalinga Stadium team were runners up. The best player award was given to Kamalika Das of Young Sporting Club. Many eminent sports persons like Mr Abakash Khatua, Coach Ranji Team, Odisha,  Mr Sudarsan Pattnaik, international Volleyball referee, Mr Nandakishore Pattanaik, Coach, Nita Ambani Football Academy, Ms Shradhanjali Samantaray, former Indian women’s football team captain, Ms Sarita Jayanti Behera, coach, women’s football team, Kalinga Stadium and Mr Subas Panda, Advisor, SNEH were present on the occasion.

SNEH hopes to integrate sports into a more comprehensive agenda for adolescent girls – literacy classes, life skills training, sports events, workshops on women’s rights, reproductive healthcare and STDs/HIV/AIDS prevention programmes. In short, sports will be used as a starting point for female empowerment. Sports programmes can provide the beneficiaries with safe places to gather, help them build social networks, offer social support and connect them to health and education services and also help them address their marginalization in society.

Also, a major impact of the programme will be improved self-confidence, self-discipline and self-motivation for the adolescent girls. They will gain valuable information on relationships, violence and abuse and also develop self awareness and a sense of personal ownership over their bodies. They will also gain the ability to share experiences, develop healthy relationships, avoid early sexual experiences and know more about STDs/HIV/AIDS infections.