Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Storming a male bastion

Photo: K. V. Srinivasan

All Smiles: Young Achiever Award winner Alisha Abudllah. —

CHENNAI: In a sport that is dominated by men, this 19-year-old girl does not hesitate to compete against them. Riding a 600-CC Honda CBR bike that weighs about 200 kg, Alisha Abdullah is perhaps India’s only female superbike racer.

Having started riding bikes at eight, Alisha says it is fun. “Right now my aim is to win the JK Tyre National Road Racing Championship that is held in Chennai, and Coimbatore championship. You have to be really good to win this championship. After this I want to go on to international racing,” says the girl who has been practising very hard.

“The faster one goes, the more chances there are for one to win... I touch 210 kms/hr,” she added. A seven-time national champion, Alisha received training from her father R. A. Abdullah.

When she was just 13-years-old, she bagged the MRF National Go-Karting Championship and the Best Novice Award in the National level Formula Car Racing in the open class. “It is quite tough to compete with men. There are no women in both 110 CC and 600 CC. But the men against whom I race are also encouraging.”

A student of M.O.P. Vaishnav College in the city, Ms. Abdullah was on Thursday honoured with Rotary’s Young Achiever Award. The Rotary Club of Madras Northwest presented the award to this student of sociology, applauding her trail-blazing achievements in car and bike racing.

Thanking the Rotary Club for presenting her with the award, she said it would only encourage her to work even harder. Past District Rotary District 3230 A. S. Venkatesh, Rotary Club of Madras Northwest K.Venklateswaran and club secretary Ashok Gupta were present on the occasion.

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