New Delhi. 08 March 2024. What an appropriate day to announce this decision! In sync with the National vision of women empowerment & demonstration of Nari Shakti, Indian Army is raising two Army Girls Sports Company (AGSC) in a phased manner.
This will be at two Army’s Centre of Excellence (COE) Nodes i.e. Army Marksmanship Unit, Mhow and Army Sports Institute, Pune. These two locations have world-class training infrastructure, sports medicine centre, rehabilitation facility and related coaching facilities. This young talent will also benefit from the senior Army teams / athletes, who are also being trained at these locations.
To identify the young talent, provide them with formal education apart from other administrative requirements & train them to be champions in their respective sporting discipline. Indian Army has rich experience in scouting for young talent as demonstrated by the success of Boys Sports Companies. The AGSC will train young girls from all parts of the country in Shooting, Archery, Athletics, Boxing & Weightlifting.
Senior sportspersons will be a source of motivation for these young girls, who will be able to successfully emulate the International athletes and imbibe required skills on a very regular basis. Aligned with India’s sports policy to achieve more podium finishes at the Olympics. The girls at AGSCs will be eligible for recruitment as Direct Entry Non Commissioned Officers & Direct Entry Junior Commissioned Officers apart from enrolment as Agniveers.
Subedar Preeti Rajak, a champion trap shooter and Asian Games Silver medallist, was accordingly identified as a talent and enrolled as a Havildar in Corps of Military Police in December 2022. She was the first woman soldier to be promoted to Subedar in January 2024. She trains at the Army Marksmanship Unit at Mhow, where one of the two Army Girls Sports Company is being established.
Similarly, Jasmine Lamboria, Bronze medallist in Commonwealth Games 2022, was also enrolled as a Non Commissioned Officer in the Indian Army in Oct 2022. These role models will inspire the incoming young talent to strive for sporting glory in their respective fields.
Provision for enrolment of women as Other Ranks (ORs) in Corps of Military Police in the Indian Army had been introduced in 2019. Under the scheme, 1,700 women were targeted to be inducted in Indian Army in a phased manner (approximately 100 per year).
Giving a major impetus to Indian Army’s efforts to promote “Nari Shakti”, the Indian Army had recruited four meritorious sports women into the Corps of Military Police as Direct Entry Havildars under it’s Mission Olympic Programme, in 2022. And the rest is history.
The four meritorious sportswomen; Recruit Havildar Sakshi (Boxing), Recruit Havildar Arundhati Choudhary (Boxing), Recruit Havildar Bhateri (Wrestling) and Recruit Havildar Priyanka (Wrestling) have created history by becoming pioneers to represent the Indian Army in women category at National Championship in Boxing and Wrestling by participating in the 6th Elite Women National Boxing Championship 2022 (19 to 26 December 2022) at Bhopal and Senior National Wrestling Championship (21 to 23 December 2022) at Vishakhapatnam.
The Indian Army has a long illustrious tradition of promoting and nurturing sports personnel and runs a well-structured programme named “Mission Olympics”. The AGSC will be fully functional with effect from April 2024.
