WARANGAL: Namita Kabat is the very antithesis of the

19/11/09

Sporty India Updated

WARANGAL: Namita Kabat is the very antithesis of the archetypal athlete. Weighing less than half a quintal, just 41 kgs to be precise, and barely a metre and a half in height, she’s walking, nay, running, evidence that size does not matter.

An Adivasi from Billa village in Orissa’s Keonjhar district, her’s is a tribal tale of rustic simplicity, kick-started by a childhood episode. Her farmer father severely scolded her big sister for playing football, a game he believed suited only the boys. Namita, spurred to excel in a sport he approved of, won three medals in her school athletics meet.

He then sent her to the Government Girls School Unit IV in Bhubaneshwar. She felt endurance was her forte and made a foray into the half mile. Untouched and unspoilt by urban attitudes, no fear had a hold on her.

“She’s a daring athlete, willing to take the rough and tough route,” says her current coach Satnam Singh of the Tata Athletics Academy, Jamshedpur, which she joined a few months ago.

“Never nervous, whether it’s a small or a big stage, she packs enough speed for the middle distance,” says Singh, a teammate and contemporary of P.T. Usha and Shiny Wilson.
Memorable moment

Catching up with the ‘Payyoli Express’ and having a photograph taken with her is Namita’s most memorable moment, although she did see Sachin Tendulkar in flesh and blood, but from a distance! A bronze in last year’s Mysore junior Nationals and gold at the Madurai Youth Nationals in June and her time had arrived.

Her flight to fame took off from Delhi, the first time she ever boarded an aircraft (and hopefully not the last!). Singapore struck her as exotic, from the food to the fantastic city.

Although wide-eyed with wonder, Namita wasn’t overawed by the alien environs or rivals from some of the continent’s sporting super powers. If the moment was upon her at the Asian Youth Games, she didn’t let the occasion slip by. Lopping off more than a second from her hitherto best time, she clinched the 800 metre gold with a career high of 2:15.55 minutes.
But for the second year intermediate student of Ananda Sahoo Women’s College, Nayagarh, the road’s still long, with many more milestones to surpass.