Life lessons served hot! Sadiya Vanjara credits success to humility

Dr Sadiya Vanjara at the National Masters Table Tennis Championship in Pune last week

Dr Sadiya Vanjara's motto in life is to be carefree, resilient, and confident, and these traits have helped her clinch the gold medal in the women's 45+ category at the recent National Masters Table Tennis Championship in Pune last week.

The physiotherapist's motto is not shaped by the travails she faced with a paddle in hand, but by her two-and-a-half decades-plus experience as a medic while simultaneously running an animal rescue shelter primarily for cats.

"It's a dream come true. I never thought I would win the National Championship, but this success is down to the lessons I learn away from the [TT] board. My patients teach me such a lot of humility, considering the pain they go through on a daily basis. They have a lot of confidence in the universe and in me as well. Also, I've learnt to be resilient from the animals I have rescued. They [animals] have no egos, will simply recover, be happy and move forward," Dr Vanjara, 49, who beat Karnataka's Anjana Rao 12-10, 12-10, 11-6 in the gold medal match, told mid-day.

How Dr Vanjara took up TT

Dr Vanjara's tryst with table tennis began in February 2019, once she had established herself in her profession and discovered she had time on her hands to give sport a go. The seeds though were sown by her father, while they sat around the dinner table, many moons ago. "I always loved sports since childhood, my father [Jameel] was very athletic and he would inspire me to go for jogs, and to do horse riding every Sunday. But as I was studying medicine, I didn't get time to do much else. I took a particular liking for table tennis when my father told me that it's one of the fastest games in the world, and helps brain-hand coordination. That mesmerised me and is ingrained in my mind," said Dr Vanjara, who resides at Dockyard Road, Mazgaon, and has her animal shelter next door. She practises table tennis at the YMCA club (Student Branch) at Lamington Road.

‘Movement is medicine'

For Vanjara, "movement is medicine," even as she laughs, candidly admitting that most doctors often don't practice what they preach. "I move as much as possible while playing, I stretch my muscles to the limit. Sometimes I'm in pain due to my age, but I fight against it and push on, and believe me, the good hormones end up taking away the pain," said Dr Vanjara, who also won a bronze medal at the World Veterans Championship in Muscat, Oman.

Winning top honours at the National Championship in just her third attempt has spurred Dr Vanjara to gun for greater glory.

"My dream is to win an international medal at a major competition for my country. With the blessings of my patients and the love from my animals, I believe I can get there," Vanjara signed off.

Three
No. of National Championships Dr Sadiya Vanjara has played in

Seven
No. of years since Dr Sadiya Vanjara first took up TT