CHENNAI: Clad in T-shirts and track pants, M Samiya Sultana, V Saranya and K Kalyani appear as if they can't hurt a fly. But looks can be deceptive. They take turns to approach a table and arm wrestle with burly looking men. With one hand gripping the hand peg, they pin their opponent's hand onto the touchpad in a matter of minutes.
Attached to different police stations across the city, the three along with five other women police personnel competed in arm-wrestling in the recently held national police meet and won the overall trophy.
A total of 19 members comprising 11 men and eight women of the Tamil Nadu Police team competed against teams from Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Mizoram and other parts of the county and secured gold, silver and bronze.
Parveen Dhinakaran, a grade 1 constable from Chromepet police station was the coach of the men's team comprising constables M Ashwin Kuar, B Dhanavel, C S Abish, S Arjun, S Ajay and others. Samiya Sultana was the coach of the women's arm wrestling team.
"This was the first time the sport was being introduced in the national police meet. A selection process was held to identify team members to represent TN police. Out of the 30 odd entries, 19 of us were selected," said Samiya.
Parveen Dhinakaran explained, "It is not just strength that will help you win. Technique is equally important. It was sheer determination to succeed that helped us learn this new sport and succeed."
The city police will be providing more facilities, like the arm-wrestling table with hand pegs, for the team to practice.
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