Indian Premier League team Royal Challengers Bangalore, on Thursday, appointed Navnita Gautam as the team's sports massage therapist. By doing so, the RCB became the first IPL team to have a woman support staff member.
She will be working with head physiotherapist Evan Speechly and strength and conditioning coach Basu Shanker, who was with the men's cricket team until recently.
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Navnita will be responsible for the preparation, motivation, overall supervision and treating all individual physical ailments relating to the RCB team.
“I am very pleased to be a part of this moment in history and another step in the right direction,” RCB Chairman Sanjeev Churiwala was quoted as saying. “The game has come a long way, in many ways, in terms of the Women’s Cricket Team and how many people are watching it, the interest was long due.
“Sport is a great enabler, but it is important to ensure that the principles of equity in participation also extends to its staffing bodies. Increasing participation and success by women in all sporting arenas have made this possible and we at RCB are very thrilled to have found great talent in Navnita,” he said.
The Virat Kohli-led side have roped in Mike Hesson as their director of cricket operations in August and Simon Katich as the new head coach.
RCB, despite having had players like Chris Gayle and Dale Steyn in their ranks over the years, are yet to win an IPL title.