Woman cricketer commits suicide

Jhuma Sarkar, 23, hangs herself from a ceiling fan with her dupatta at her home in West Bengal's Nadia district.

Driven by frustration at failing to make it to the state's senior squad, a promising cricketer, who had been a regular in the Bengal under-19 team, killed herself at her home in West Bengal's Nadia district.

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Jhuma Sarkar, 23, former Calcutta University player, hanged herself from a ceiling fan with her dupatta on Friday at her home in Hanskhali, about 75 km from Kolkata, local reports said.

Swapan Sadhu, her coach, said she had been depressed over the fact that her peers were moving ahead.

"The main reason for the suicide appears to be her frustration at her failure to get into the Bengal team," said Sujit Bhattacharya, officer in charge of Hanskhali police station.

Sadhu said Sarkar was talented but "over-ambitious".

"She had always been in a haste to achieve success, which hampered her growth as a cricketer despite her tremendous potential," he said, adding: "She became depressed when she saw women her age move ahead of her."

Sarkar made it to Calcutta University and the Bengal under-19 teams and performed well at the national level. She travelled to Jharkhand, Assam, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa to play matches.

However, she quit cricket six months ago after failing to make it to the senior Bengal team. Last week, her parents arranged her marriage.

"My daughter wanted to be a cricketer, not a homemaker," Sudhir, her father, said.

Sarkar, who studied at a Naihati college, quit after second year and began playing for a Calcutta club.

"One day, she came home in tears and said she had been denied a place in the senior team because she was poor. She promised never touch a bat or a ball again," Sudhir said.

Sarkar locked herself in her room on Thursday night and asked her mother not to disturb her.

When her mother, Neelima, knocked on her door on Friday morning, she received no response. The 50-year-old woman peered into the room through a peephole in the window and saw her hanging.

The neighbours brought the body down. "She died hours before we recovered her body," a police officer said.