‘Damini made us proud by excelling in a lesser known sport’
   Date :11-May-2020

International fencer Dami
 International fencer Damini Rambhad (2L) with her family members after receiving the Shiv Chhatrapati award.
 
By Mahesh S Kale :
 
THE taste of victory is the sweetest when obstacles are the toughest and challenges are the hardest. The adage goes well the with the daughter of a ‘Paan Kiosk’ owner Damini Rambhad who, despite having numerous obstacles in her way, achieved national and international recognition in the sport of fencing. In spite of having limited access to funds, information and coaching Damini represented India at the Foil Grand Prix Championship in Shanghai, China. Hard work and perseverance also got her bronze medal at the South Asian Championship in Hyderabad.
 

damini_1  H x W 
 
 
To top it all Damini was recently awarded with the prestigious Shiv Chhatrapati Award by Government of Maharashtra. “Having more than 62 State and 10 National medals to her name, Damini was introduced to fencing by a school teacher when she was in Standard VIII,” said her mother Anupama Rambhad. “Damini was intrigued with the Marathi word ‘Talwarbaji’ and always wanted to play an individual sport. I think she was in class eight when a school teacher introduced her to fencing. Four months later she even won her first medal at the school district championship in 2006,” said Anupama while talking to ‘The Hitavada’.
 
She added, “after completing her SSC, Damini started training rigorously. She used to train twice a day. In morning she used to practice from 6.30 to 8 at the NMC Chavani ground while in the evening she used to train at the Maulana Abdul Kalam Azad High school from 5.30 to 8. “People actually started appreciating Damini after she won her fist National medal in Raipur. Also it was then when most of us got to know about fencing. But before that we hardly knew anything about fencing nor we ever expected Damini to reach this far. She has made us proud by excelling in a lesser known sport,” said her mother. “Apart from cricket, badminton and swimming we never knew any other sport nor we ever had anyone in the family who played sports professionally.
 
We never heard about fencing, nor we ever saw it. So the thought that Damini would make a name for herself in this sport was very distant to us. We just wanted her to excel in whatever she does,” Anupama said. Even after winning so many titles and medals, Damini never received the much needed financial support from her family and relatives. Even when she was selected to represent India at the Foil Grand Prix Championship in Shanghai it was her community people who raised funds for her journey. “Fencing is an expensive sport. The FIE kits which are mandatory at the International level are also very costly. Honestly neither we could afford the FIE kit nor the travelling expenses. But we are extremely grateful to the Halba Koshti community members, MLA Vikas Kumbhare, Mohammad Shoaib, Secretary of Nagpur District Fencing Association and other well-wishers who generously raised funds so that Damini could travel to China,” said the emotional mother.
 
The ace fencer has made her parents and siblings proud on many occasions but Damini receiving the prestigious Shiv Chhatrapati Award really made the parents proud and emotional. “We had tears in our eyes when she received the prestigious Shiv Chhatrapati Award at the hands of Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. For me that was the proudest moment because Damini has achieved all this through her hard work and perseverance. Damini winning the gold at Nagpur in Under-19 juniors State championship is also one my favourite moment,” said the proud mother. “To make the ends meet, Damini now works as a security agent at the Air India and still practices fencing daily with a hope that one day she might represent India in Olympics,” her mother concluded.