MAKING IT IN SPORTS

Sports are not treated as "extracurricular" activities anymore. About half a dozen sports universities have come up in the past decade and several more are in the pipeline.

- Pritha Roy Choudhury

Ananya Gogoi from Biswanath district, Assam, was always interested in sports but was pushed into studying science after Class 10 board exams. "Till about the last three or four years, many people did not know about sports as a subject or stream," she said. Sports was treated as "extracurricular", situated on the sidelines of education and offering little by way of a career for anyone other than professional sportspersons.

Parents, relatives and friends pressured Gogoi to start preparing for engineering entrance tests or seek admission in a nursing school. "I was struggling with myself to do something against my wish. I wanted to study the subject I would enjoy and there would not be much mental pressure," she said.

For the younger of twin siblings, it was a moment of triumph when she was finally able to convince her parents and enrolled herself in a Bachelors of Physical Education course, a 4-year integrated programme at Lakshmibai National Institute of Physical Education (LNIPE) Guwahati in 2016.

The LNIPE Guwahati is the northeast regional centre of the Lakshmibai National Institute of Physical Education Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. LNIPE Gwalior itself began as the Lakshmi Bai College of Physical Education (LCPE) in August 1957 and was upgraded to its current status as a deemed-to-be university in 2009. This was one of the first institutions of higher education to be dedicated specifically to physical education. The 2000s have seen several more coming up including ones in Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Punjab, Manipur, Assam and Gujarat.

Gogoi is currently pursuing a Masters of Physical Education (MPED)) at Swarnim Gujarat Sports University which she joined in November 2020. She aspires to do a PhD in sports physiology and finally, be a teacher.

Increasing interest among students