The ASMITA women’s leagues received a fresh push on Tuesday as Minister of State for Sports, Raksha Khadse, launched the programme’s official social media handles and honoured members of India’s bronze-winning Asian U-20 women’s rugby squad. The event highlighted ASMITA’s rapid expansion since 2021 and its growing role in boosting women’s participation in sports across the country.
ASMITA (Achieving Sports Milestone by Inspiring Women Through Action), part of Khelo India’s gender-neutral initiative, has already crossed several major milestones. Since its inception, 1,886 ASMITA leagues have been held in partnership with National Sports Federations and state bodies.
More than 2.14 lakh women have taken part across 32 sports, spanning more than 500 districts and 600 cities, including remote areas of Arunachal Pradesh, tribal belts and border regions.
Khadse said it was time for ASMITA to build a distinct identity of its own. “This shows the government’s intention to bring young women to the limelight. Through social media, we can penetrate even further and raise awareness for women wanting to play a sport,” said Khadse.
The minister felicitated six members — Dumuni Marndi, Bhumika Shukla, Ujjwala Ghughe, Guriya Kumari, Sandhya Rai and Amandeep Kaur, from the Indian women’s rugby team. A majority of the players who helped secure the historic bronze at the Asian U-20 Championship in Rajgir earlier this year are products of ASMITA leagues.
“We want to create more opportunities for women and tap from the grassroots level. The ministry has a proper structure to groom talent and our women need the attention they deserve. We also have to look at all sports and ensure that people can make careers. Look at cricket, they introduced equal pay for men and women. We have to try and apply the same formula to all sports,” said Khadse.
Also present at the event was celebrated shooter and double medallist at the Paris 2024 Olympics, Manu Bhaker, who praised the scale and impact of the ASMITA programme.
“We women are demonstrating what we are capable of. In the last two Olympics, women athletes have done incredibly well and if we have to do well in the 2036 Olympics, programmes like ASMITA and Khelo India are the way to go,” said Manu, adding: “More importantly, these leagues are changing mindsets, especially in rural India where women don’t come to sport naturally. We should do everything to cheer for our girls because they can do equally well like the men.”