Can you identify
this woman and do you know of her achievements ?
Mar 8th
is a significant day ~ you know why ! ….the
ICC T20 WC 2016, the sixth edition of ICC, first to be hosted by India starts
!! Seven Indian cities will host
matches at the tournament, with the final to be played at Eden Gardens. Ten teams qualified automatically through
their status as full members of the International Cricket Council, while
another six - Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Afghanistan, Hong Kong and
Oman qualified through the 2015 World Twenty20 Qualifier.
8th March – sure
there would be numerous posts on FB and social media celebrating the
International Womens’ Day – getting excited……. Media would post the photos of
goodlooking heroines and feature them in first page. Last year, US First Lady Michelle Obama felicitated
Indian acid attack victim Laxmi after she won the International Women of
Courage Award for successfully leading the campaign against acid attacks on
women in India. Women day is need not be all about – Reita Faira, Sushmita Sen, Lara Dutta,
Aishwarya Rai, ………….there are many many other achievers. Reena Kaushal Dharkshaktu was the first woman
to reach South pole and Sucheta Kadethankar was the first to have walked across
Gobi desert.
When it comes to
women in Sport – Serena Williams would feature on top. Is she the greatest i.e., most famous or most
accomplished – a measure of feminine athleticism? Serena has achieved lot lot. Serena Jameka Williams has been ranked world No. 1 in singles on six separate
occasions. She became the world No. 1 for the first time in 2002, and achieved this ranking for the sixth
time in 2013. She is the reigning champion of the French Open, Wimbledon and
Olympic women's singles and doubles. Williams
holds the most major singles, doubles, and mixed doubles titles combined
amongst active players, male or female. She is also the only tennis player to
have won 10 Grand Slam singles titles in two separate decades.
This time, there is
going to be ICC Women’s World T20 Competition too. It has 10 participating teams. The tournament
was first held in 2009, when hosts England won the tournament. The most recent
champions are Australia, who won the tournament and retained the trophy in
2014. The fifth version would be held from 15th Mar till 3rd
April. For the first time in the history
of ICC Women’s World Twenty20 2016, the International Cricket Council’s (ICC)
ICC TV will produce live broadcast coverage of 13 women’s matches. This, in
turn, will be carried around the world by ICC’s global broadcast partner Star
Sports and other broadcast partners.
The 2016 list is
yet to be out ! in 2015, the Forbes Most powerful women list had on top German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had to
ponder on : Mediterranean migrants, Russian sanctions, homegrown spying
scandals, Eurozone stability and the Germanwings crash, to name a few pressing
issues. Hillary Clinton has appeared on
this FORBES ranking every year since it launched in 2004 as, in order, a
senator, secretary of state and influential personality. In 2015 Clinton was No.
2, just a breath and a ballot away from the Most Powerful Woman crown.
The 2015 top 10: Merkel and Clinton followed by Melinda
Gates, Janet Yellen, Mary Barra, Christine Lagarde, Dilma Rousseff, Sheryl
Sandberg, Susan Wojcicki and Michelle Obama.
The most powerful women in politics, philanthropy, business and tech were
Merkel, Gates, Barra and Sandberg, respectively. The top ranking billionaire of
2015 was Oprah Winfrey at No. 12, who had
a personal net worth of $3 billion. No doubt those in
that top 100 were icons who impacted the World through business, media,
philanthropy, politics and more. All 100 women had the power to shape our
world, but 18 stood as entrepreneurs —
the women who built their status from scratch.
If you are
wondering of the woman at the top – it is Ronda Jean Rousey, an American mixed martial artist, judoka, and
actress. She is the former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion, as well as the
last Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Champion. In 2015, she was the third most searched
person on Google. In May 2015, two
magazines ranked Rousey as the most "dominant" active athlete.
Back home, in Tamil’s
glorious past, women garnered more attention and respect. They have held pride
of place in Puranas and in Sangam literature. Sangam literature extols women
for they had to play different roles in the family such as a dutiful wife,
responsible mother and an ideal hostess to guests. Women’s education was also
insisted during the Sangam Age.
A poem in Sangam
literature which glorifies courage in battlefield goes thus – ‘ that a valiant
mother who was distraught when told by people that her son retracted from the
battle field and was killed but upon nearing the battlefield and knowing that
he fought and died valiantly in the battlefield and did not run away saving his
life, the mother felt happy’ ……. Yes happy at the time of death for it was one
of valour. This is a song in
Purananooru, written by a Poetess known as ‘Kakkai Padiniyar’ also known as Nachellaiyar.
My
post is dedicated to ‘all women known to
me’ – ‘wishing you all happiness and all good things in life’ and may all of
you be treated fairly in all places and not discriminated anywhere in every
walk of life. Happy Woman’s day wishes.
Yours friendly – S.Sampathkumar
8th Mar
2016.
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