You truly know that sport is evolving when more women involved in the industry come to the forefront and lead the way forward. Diksha Chillar, Co-Founder of Aethleti Circle and a National level Karate black belt and Archer is one such individual who is paving the way for more women to be involved in sports in the future.

In an exclusive interview with SPOGO, Diksha speaks about her journey into the world of Archery and Karate, the challenges she has faced as a female athlete, promoting sports at the grassroot level as well as maintain fitness during the lockdown.

Q 1) You are a National Archer and a National medalist in Karate, how did your interest in two sports of very different nature develop?

Ans: My mother was involved in sports before marriage and wanted her daughter to play sports and represent India. When I was in the 2nd grade, my mother told me about a Karate academy which was close to where I lived and enrolled my brother and I. After competing in the district, state and national level competitions, I achieved the black belt as a result of 8 years of hard work. With regards to Archery, I was in the fifth grade in my new school, Amity International and it was one of the sports. On the very first day of school I saw people with bows and arrows which fascinated me because my grandfather was in the army. I always wanted to be involved in shooting or archery which is why I told my mother about enrolling in an archery academy and I became a part of it on the same day. Both are different sports because Karate needs a lot of strength and energy while Archery requires calmness and that’s how I got involved with both the sports.

Q 2) How different or similar was the road to excelling in both of these sports?

Ans: The road to excel in both the sports was different because I was involved in them at different stages of my life. I was involved in Karate for 8 years and had to take a test every year to progress to the next belt. Since it’s a contact sport, my parents were concerned because of the injuries. I believe if you try your best, you can achieve anything in life. It’s just a matter of training your brain.

Q 3) How challenging is it especially for a female athlete to make it to the top sporting levels in India?

Ans: There are still some places in India that would rather have a boy over a girl. There were definitely challenges, hygiene problems at the facilities provided at the state level. My parents were also concerned about sending me to different states to compete and society also does not look at it favourably. Till my 11th grade, my mother and my grandmother would accompany me to competitions and we would stay at hotels sometimes for better facilities.

Q 4) What does India need to do at grassroot levels to promote the culture of sports in every part of the country?

Ans: I believe there should be more tournaments that are held throughout the year. Athletes train for years to compete in tournaments and if they don’t succeed at it they get demoralized because they don’t have other tournaments to bounce back. Organizing more tournaments at the grassroot, district or state level will be beneficial for athletes because it gives them more opportunities to be successful. The government needs to increase the number of private tournaments to increase participation at the grassroot. Apart from that, there should be more academies near the houses of athletes for easy access to facilities in different parts of our country.

Q 5) Tell us about your entrepreneurial venture the 'Aethleti Circle'?

Ans: I started Aethleti Circle in July 2020 during the lockdown, it’s a sports management firm which has three verticals, athlete representation, content production and event management. Due to the COVID-19 situation, we are only focusing on the first two verticals and not event management. In athlete management, we are managing 25 International athletes from different sports such as archery, fencing, roller skating, kabaddi and not just cricket and football. We are helping athletes with PR, social media, legal and their overall development. Athletes represent the country for the entirety of their career, so we want them to be taken care of after retirement. They have worked hard and given their all for the country, we want them to get something back.  In content production, we want people to know about sports and do LIVE with international athletes, series such as ‘Know your sports’ to spread awareness about different sports from all over the world.

Q 6) Would you like to share any fitness or well being mantra with our readers that they can practise at their home in these times?

Ans: The one message I would like to convey is to try and spend a lot of time with your family. Even if it’s just one or two hours talking about life and experiences it will bring a lot of positivity. Since we are all working from home, there are times when there isn’t much work to do, we can use that time to be around family. With regards to fitness, you must give at least half an hour to one hour for your body. You can walk, run, yoga, jumping jacks because it will make you feel good about yourself. Youtube videos of home workouts are also useful to be fit so it’s important to do something.