DHEEMA

GOLD STANDARD FOR ATHLETES

by Mohamed Hamdhoon

Dheema, 11, was born in neighbouring Sri Lanka, to Maldivian parents, Aishath Waheeda and Abdul Sattar Ali. Her excellent academic performance made her teacher to suggest that she take up a sport. Dheema’s parents initially took her to a badminton academy, but she was rejected for being too short. She was then taken to a table tennis academy. She first practiced on the dining table at home!

At the academy, Dheema was paired with a girl who was three years older than her. After seeing the pair practice, Waheeda wanted Dheema to reach the level of her partner when she reached her age. But when Dheema reached that age, she was already a national champion!

Dheema’s talents were discovered in 2016, when she was crowned the champion in the under-11 category of a table tennis championship held in Malaysia. She won eight games, winning all three sets in seven of the eight games! Dheema, who was just eight years old at the time, participated in the tournament while being on her year-end school holidays.

Dheema was the star at IOG 2019. PHOTO: MALDIVES OLYMPIC COMMITTEE

Four months later, Dheema was crowned the champion in the under-10 category of the Sri Lankan Junior National Table Tennis Championship 2017. She beat players who were at least three years older than her, to be ranked amongst four of the best under-12 players of the tournament.

This win brought in countless training opportunities from coaches and associations in Sri Lanka. The Western Province Table Tennis Association’s chairman was quoted in the media as saying that Dheema was one of the most important players to the Sri Lankan table tennis squad. The Sri Lankan Table Tennis Association even sought to arrange citizenship for Dheema!

Despite countless opportunities to train with and play for the Sri Lankan national table tennis team, Waheeda wanted her child to play for the Maldives; she wanted her child to represent her native country at the international arena. After all, Waheeda had

been dreaming of helping her child become the Maldives national table tennis champion!

To make that dream come true, the family moved back to the Maldives in 2018. Dheema competed in the Maldives National Table Tennis Championship. Despite losing the chance to play in the Sri Lankan Junior National Table Tennis Championship, Dheema’s family wanted her to represent the Maldives.

“Our priority is the nation. We want our child to win medals for our nation. Even today, we want Dheema to bring glory to the Maldives,” Waheeda said.

In her second ever appearance at the Maldives National Table Tennis Championship, Dheema took home the National Table Tennis Championship Trophy, becoming the youngest player to have ever won the championship.

PHOTO: MALDIVES OLYMPIC COMMITTEE

Dheema was selected to the squad of both the junior and senior national table tennis team as the first-ranked player. She was the youngest player at the World Team Table Tennis Championship, held in Sweden in April 2018.

“Asian players often think Indian players are the best in the region; that everyone else are second-tier players. We want Dheema to become the player who changes that perspective. Our hope is that Dheema will become the player who proves that other countries in the region can beat India and lead the way,” Waheeda said.

Dheema was the silver medalist in the under-12 category of the South Asian Junior Table Tennis Championship, held in 2018. Following that win, she was qualified to the Asian Junior Table Tennis Championship, where she won a silver in the women’s division. Dheema, who had by then become the first player to have won an international medal in table tennis for the Maldives, advanced to the World Junior Table Tennis Championship.

PHOTO: MIHAARU

But as circumstances would have it, Dheema wasn’t able to compete in the World Junior Table Tennis Championship. It coincided with the Indian Ocean Island Games (IOG) 2019 and her parents preferred the IOG because of its national significance.

At IOG, the Maldives table tennis team was the centre of attention! Dheema led the Maldives women’s table tennis team to win the team event, making it the first ever gold medal won by the country in a team event at a multi-sport international tournament. She also beat fellow Maldivian, Aishath Rafa Nazim, to win a gold in the singles event. In the doubles event, Dheema and Rafa beat fellow Maldivian players, Mueena Mohamed and Fathimath Jumana Nimal, to win a gold.

“At the age that we started playing, Dheema is winning golds for the nation. Now imagine how advanced she’d be in the future. This is impressive; almost unbelievable. This is an extraordinary win,” Dheema’s coach Ibrahim Shiuree, who himself began playing at the national level at the age of 11, said.

PHOTO: MALDIVES OLYMPIC COMMITTEE

“This is a proud win. Hopefully I’ll win many more golds in the future,” Dheema said, after IOG 2019.