Lakshadweep’s first big international track star Mubassima makes mark at world meet

Mubassima Mohammad’s family, especially her mother Dubina Bano, knew that her eldest daughter would prosper in track and field. What she did not know was how quickly she would rise to the challenge.

Mubassima,19, from Lakshadweep’s Minicoy Island, has not only become a full India international star, but she has also already bagged a silver medal in women’s long jump at the ongoing South Asian Senior Athletics Championships in Ranchi on Sunday.

Mubassima cleared 6.07 m to finish behind Sri Lanka’s Mudiyans Herath, who jumped 6.23 m to clinch the gold medal. The bronze medal was won by Bhavani Yadav.

The medal was another tick on her checklist. She had promised her mother a medal. “I told my mother yesterday that I have been down with fever, so I may not win the gold medal as there are seasoned athletes in the fray. I told her I may win a bronze or silver medal,” Mubassima said.

What started as a dream from a mere 200 m mud track in Minicoy, Mubassima’s journey towards becoming the first-ever Indian track and field international star from Lakshadweep is inspirational.

Running came naturally to her, as her father, who plucks coconuts and runs a tea kiosk, would take part in mini-marathons to win prize money. Her mother wanted her to be a track star. In 2015, as a fifth-standard student, Mubassima won a six-kilometre mini-marathon, beating adults as it was an open competition and won gold, besides Rs 1 lakh in prize money.

“My mother had the confidence that I could do it as my father used to run mini-marathons,” Mubassima said of her early years.

The journey was not that straightforward. The young girl was doing everything. From participating in 15-km runs to competing in 600 m local events and even trying her luck with javelin competition. In 2017, she won a bronze medal in the South Zone Competition. Despite her early success, regular training became a daily hassle. In her earlier days, she would need to take a ferry from Minicoy to Kavaratti Island to train with her coach Ahmed Javad Hassan and had to stay back.

To help her train regularly, the family shifted base to Kavaratti for two years. In the meantime, she kept on competing in different track & field competitions. She started training for the heptathlon three years ago and won a silver medal in the heptathlon in the Youth Asia Championships that were held in Uzbekistan in 2022, where she also bagged a bronze medal in long jump.

She then left Lakshadweep twice to get special training, first in Calicut Academy and then to Trivandrum but returned because she was homesick.

“I did not like the food and I was also homesick, so I returned. Then two years ago, my coach said Bobby sir (Robert Bobby George) wants to train me but I was reluctant to leave Lakshadweep,” she said.

In between she had to fight her inner demons, including taking her first-ever flight to take part in a junior trials held in Odisha in 2021. “I was scared. Now I am used to flying,” she said with a big laugh.

From being a reluctant trainee, Mubassima has now joined the Anju Bobby Sports Foundation and is training with Bobby in Bengaluru for the past two months.

Bobby is mindful that her newest ward is different but knows that this Minicoy girl can sparkle at the world stage. The first brief interaction between the Dronacharya awardee coach and Mubassima was during the Youth Nationals that was held in Bhopal in 2022. There, Mubassima jumped 5.73 m and beat Bobby’s trainees to the gold medal.

“Lakshadweep officials got in touch with me and asked me to look at Mubassima. They thought she had big potential, but when I got in touch, she was reluctant to leave the island,” Bobby said.

“Early this year she contacted me again and we have taken her under our wings and she is training alongside a group. She has shown early promise, but we have to be handled carefully as we have lost big talent due to a variety of issues, including burnout. Right now I am happy that I am part of her journey, as her rise from a small island to this place is very rare,” he added.

The results are already showing, as early as this month, Mubassima jumped 6.36 m, her personal best mark, in the Indian Open U-23 Athletics Competition to win the gold medal.