Legendary cricketer Jhulan Goswami, who'll be quitting the sport next month, tried explaining the problems female athletes have to overcome if on periods during a competition. The fast bowler, who holds the record for the most ODI wickets in women's cricket, also recalled her experience of quietly fighting the pain and not being able to share it with the coach on several occasions. She also urged for more scientific research to understand the effects of menstruation on female athletes.
Goswami shared her views during a talk show with the former India women's cricket team coach WV Raman on his talk show Wednesdays with WV, available on YouTube. “When I was young, I couldn’t even discuss this topic. I would just keep it to myself, not tell coaches, quietly fight through it. People should research properly, lot of science is there, see if we can find a way to adjust during those menstrual cycles during competition.
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“This is the biggest challenging part for a woman athlete. If it [periods] happens during a competition, it becomes a huge challenge to concentrate on your job – you have to be mentally very strong. At that time, it can happen that you are not being able to concentrate more, deliver more – and people don’t realise that. They start saying ‘arre yaar, isko kya ho gaya?' But people don’t know the background story. This is something all women athletes around the world face and that’s why they are special,” Goswami told Raman.
The senior bowler also lauded the spirit of girls, who force themselves to compete at the highest level despite the pain. “It’s one thing going through the aches and pains of the body but going through that kind of pain and changes in the body is challenging. During match days it’s tough, it takes a lot of courage to come out of that situation. Playing for six hours on a cricket field is a huge task. You have to give a lot of credit to all the girls going through those challenges. You want to be in a room, getting rest but we can’t do that. We can’t be in bed. It’s an important match, we have to be out there for six hours. We can’t give excuses and sit. It’s normal – we accept that, and we prepare that way. You can’t give excuses for that and that’s the beauty for our women athletes,” Goswami said.
{{/usCountry}}The senior bowler also lauded the spirit of girls, who force themselves to compete at the highest level despite the pain. “It’s one thing going through the aches and pains of the body but going through that kind of pain and changes in the body is challenging. During match days it’s tough, it takes a lot of courage to come out of that situation. Playing for six hours on a cricket field is a huge task. You have to give a lot of credit to all the girls going through those challenges. You want to be in a room, getting rest but we can’t do that. We can’t be in bed. It’s an important match, we have to be out there for six hours. We can’t give excuses and sit. It’s normal – we accept that, and we prepare that way. You can’t give excuses for that and that’s the beauty for our women athletes,” Goswami said.
{{/usCountry}}She also agreed to her former coach's suggestion if more research was required to understand and reduce the effects of menstruation among female athletes. “Research is required to see what challenges we go through and how to mitigate them. Everybody wants to be fresh during competing time. I am happy to see that people are thinking that,” she said.