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Down memory lanes: She just can’t wait for the Games to begin

Marjorie Teresa Suares, the grand old lady of Indian athletics, still has good memory of the Asiad she took part in some five-decades ago.

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Marjorie Teresa Suares, who celebrates her 86th birthday today, participated in the first Asiad in 1951

BANGALORE: The Asian Games in Doha is just a couple of days away, but one person can’t wait for the action to begin. What makes her different from others is that she was a competitor at the first-ever Asian Games held in New Delhi in 1951 and will be celebrating her 86th birthday on Wednesday.

Marjorie Teresa Suares, the grand old lady of Indian athletics, still has good memory of the Asiad she took part in some five-and-a-half decades ago, despite having “one foot on the grave and the other on banana skin”, as she describes her present condition. Marjorie has had the unique distinction of leading three Karnataka state teams — hockey, basketball and athletics.

“I always watch sport on TV and derive pleasure. That’s the only thing I can do. Now I want to see some nice hockey at the Doha Asian Games,” she says.

Going down the memory lane, Marjorie says she and Barbara Webster were the first Anglo-Indian ladies from Bangalore to represent India in the 1951 Games. “It was a great experience. Pandit Nehru was there and so was Indira Gandhi, who was in the Games Village committee. I shook hands with President Rajendra Prasad and even Lady Mountbatten. They treated us very well,” Marjorie recalls.

Marjorie had missed the high jump bronze medal then. Kyoko Yoneda of Japan had cleared the bar at 1.40 metres (4’10”) for the gold and her teammate Taeko Sato scaled 1.44 metres (4’8”) to bag the silver. Two Indians tied for the bronze as Bombay’s Marie Semoes and Marjorie Suares both cleared 1.37 metres (4’6”). But Semoes took the bronze since Marjorie had one foul against her name after both failed to clear 4’7”.

“I should have done the long jump but I missed it. I had missed the hurdles too,” recalls Marjorie.

“I was 30 when I took part in the Asiad and I stopped doing high jump, long jump and hurdles after that,” adds Marjorie, who served as PT Mistress of Bishop Cotton Girls School for nearly 40 years.

Restricted to home and a lonely life, Marjorie has an interesting anecdote when asked why she remained single throughout. “I was very keen on one tall boy, a distant relative, and even went to watch his hockey match. He was at the goal. When he conceded nine goals in that match, I thought, ‘What a useless guy he is, so big and letting in nine goals’, and changed my mind,” she reveals.

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