Shailaja guides Iran women to Asian kabaddi bronze

NASHIK

: Former Indian kabaddi women's coach

Shailaja

Jain played a key role in the

Iran

team winning a bronze medal in the Asian women's kabaddi championship held in Teheran this month.

Iran lost to

South Korea

17-14 in the semifinal and had to settle for the bronze.

"But they won the hearts of the people all over Iran," said Jain, who has been training the Iranian women sporting full pants, full sleeves tops and head-covering hijab while playing. "I was worried about the not-so-comfortable news (about women athletes in Iran). I was in two minds about accepting the offer, but being a sportsperson, I decided to go ahead. It proved to be a great and memorable experience and the bronze was an icing on the cake," told the NIS-trained coach.

"Iranian women are generally tall and strong by build. They looked very enthusiastic and eager to learn the tricks. They were new to the game, but they learnt fast.

"The medal was not an accident, it was result of hard work and sincerity. I expect them to give good fight to India in 2/3 years if they keep up the momentum."

Over the last three-four years, Iran's age-group teams have done very well at international level, Jain, who has worked with Iran for over a year, said. "To my surprise the country was mad after kabaddi. I saw almost all the 20 television channels regularly showing innumerable programmes discussing kabaddi. I found, like cricket in India, the boys and girls playing kabaddi at nook and corner during my stint there. They love this game."

She also said that she was given a free hand to take decisions on all matters including strategies and selection of players. "There was no pressure and no interference from the anyone," said the 61-year-old Jain who retired only a year ago as a kabaddi coach from the Nashik district sports department. During her tenure, the Nashik women's team was a powerhouse and players like Bhakti Kulkarni, Poonam Patil and

Nirmala Bhoi

went on to win Chhatrapati awards in their careers.