From an Olympianto a Sub-Inspector in Punjab Police, Sunith Singh (50), a single mother hasfaced several ups and downs in her life. However, one thing that remainedconstant was providing better education and upbringing to her daughter.
Born on September10, 1970, Sunith is former Indian female Judoka. She represented India at the1996 Summer Olympics. She also won bronze medals in the 1995 Asian JudoChampionships and Commonwealth Games in 1996.
But life took adifferent turn after she got married in 1997 to her fellow Indian judoka,Narender Singh, an Arjun awardee, who had also represented India in both 1992Summer Olympics and in the 1996 Olympics.
While she wasworking in a private company as a sports officer in Jamshedpur when herdaughter was born, she had to give up her job and leave sports so that she couldbe with her husband here.
"My husbandwas posted here in PAP. For a sound upbringing and better schooling of mydaughter, I left sports. Having played over 20 international tournaments andseveral national championships, sports was a big miss but raising my daughterappeared as a bigger responsibility. And I decided to make my daughter an acejudo player. As life is full of surprising events, In 2002, when my daughterstarted going to school, an opportunity to become HOD sports of a privateschool knocked on my door. Analysing all the pros and cons, I took up the job andremained associated with sports. I enjoyed training young minds including mydaughter", said Sunith.
However, lifeisn't a bed full of roses that sails smoothly. The worst time occurred when shelost her husband, due to an illness in 2016. While Sunith was recovering fromthe trauma, she was offered to join Punjab police, as her husband was servingas Superintendent of Police. Considering her young daughter's future ahead, shejoined the police as a judo coach for budding sports players.
Before formallyserving as a coach, at the age of 46, she had to undergo a mandatory trainingfor three years, that remained physically challenging. But motivation to set anexample for all the mothers kept her going. "Instead of puttingrestrictions on our daughters, we should set them free. Give them the space tospread their wings and let them stand tall on their feet", she advicesfor better upbringing of daughters.
While herdaughter Sharon is currently pursuing her higher studies Abroad, Sunithresides here in PAP.