Indore: Proving themselves as best shooters of Border Security Force (BSF), Bhilavekar Nisha and Durgi Hansdas bagged two gold medals in Inter Frontier Platoon Weapon Shooting Competition. They competed against best shooters in BSF including men. The BSF shooting competition held in different categories and being organised at Reoti Range on city outskirts will conclude on Monday.
This is for the first time that BSF women constables participated in the annual shooting competition. About 100 women from 11 frontiers namely Rajasthan, North Bengal, South Bengal, Jammu, Gujarat, Guwahati, Meghalaya, Tripura, Punjab, Mizoram and Nagaland participated. In an exclusive interview with Free Press, winners of shooting competition talked about their struggles, expectations and journey in BSF. Excerpts of interviews
Setting example in family
Most women in BSF are first women in their families to join the force. One of them is Devjade Yogita, 25. “I have an elder and a younger brother. They are taking care of my parents while I am serving our country.” She is from Maharashtra frontier.
Rekha Yadav, 22, from Uttar Pradesh, is a son to her family and the country. “I am the first one in my family to join BSF and my younger sister will follow suit. We will set an example for everyone,” she said. Only woman achiever from Madhya Pradesh is 29-year-old Rajni. “I have set an example in my family and started a new trend, which my younger brother is following,” she said. Rajni bagged gold medal in the competition. Sumranisha Anisben from Gujarat is the only child in her family who has joined BSF.
It changed everything
While joining the force, most of them were school pass-outs, shy and had never travelled alone. Couple of years of training made them strong and now they know every corner of country and can fight anyone to guard the nation. “I have learned to behave and act selectively. I don’t share everything with my family that might worry them,” 30-year-old Mamoni Boro from Assam said. She bagged gold medal in the competition.
“I had not travelled alone before. Now, I am the person people look for protection; it has been quite a journey from being protected to becoming a protector,” 27-year-old Beauty Kumari from Bihar said. Saroj Rani, 25, calls herself as daughter of nation. Shipra Shah, Parmila Choudhary and Manju Verma talked about opportunities that have helped them to study and grow.
Men gold, silver medallists
Anuj Kumar, Suraj Kumar Singh, Kesar Mininath, Amichand Gurjar, Ashok Singh, Mukesh Choudhary, Satyanarayan, Anoop Singh, Satnam Singh, Gopal Ghosh, Ram Kumar Tomar, Golap Nipoon, Gaurav Choudhary and Surat Singh.