Birthday girl’s special gift to the nation

Monday was a special day for birthday girl Anisa Sayyed. She started early in the morning for Ongnyeon International Shooting Range for her 25m Sports Pistol event along with her teammates Rahi Sarnobat and Heena Sidhu.

There were a few exchanges of birthday wishes from her teammates but thoughts of any celebration were farthest from Sayyed's mind. Her focus was simple – to help the country win their first ever medal in 25m Sports Pistol.

And, Sayyed, who turned 34 on the day, shot really well, especially in her last round that lifted India to the bronze medal position. Her aggregate score of 577 was less than that of Sarnobat's 580 but ahead of Sidhu's 572. A combined score of 1,729 was good enough for India to rejoice over yet another medal – their fourth overall.

Sayyed kept standing in one corner and silently slipped out for the customary dope test. It was during that walk that she felt like crying as some issues close to her heart returned to take the sheen off her win. She immediately called up her husband Mubarak Husain in Faridabad in India to tell him about her medal in a sombre voice.

"His first words to me were 'cheer up and stop thinking about other worries'," Sayyed told dna after the event. "He told me that this is God's gift on my birthday. So, live this moment."

It was after the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi that Sayyed was honoured by the Haryana government for winning two gold medals with an additional promise of Additional Sports Director's job. Working in Railways – first in Mumbai and later in Delhi after her marriage – as a ticket checker for many years, Sayyed immediately quit her job after she was told by a senior Haryana official that "appointment letter is on its way".

But the Glasgow Commonwealth Games silver medallist is still waiting for that letter to be delivered to her. "The Cabinet also cleared my appointment along with several other names. But even then some 'babu' has been sitting over the file for so long," said a disappointed Sayyed.

She has tried hard over the years to not let this 'worry' affect her practice but somewhere the issue of 'joblessness' keeps haunting and disturbing her.

"I only think that winning two medals in the last two months would have made me eligible for special increments had I been in any job. These are the kind of motivational factors for any sportsman. But here I'm... still jobless," Sayyed said in a voice choking with emotion.

With Haryana going to elect a new government soon, there is fervent hope that sportspersons like Sayyed will not have to wait too long for their due to be cleared.

"It would have been a great birthday gift."