In 1978, at the age of 14, Shameen Thakur-Rajbansi had already shown she had oodles of staying power, agility and had established a reputation of being a tenacious competitor in a variety of sporting codes.
While her days of playing sport are now long gone, Thakur-Rajbansi adapted those traits she displayed on the sport fields to carve out a long-standing career in the political arena. She is now the leader of the Minority Front (MF).
Thakur-Rajbansi has fond memories of growing up in Newcastle and representing her school, St Oswald’s Secondary, at tennis, athletics and gymnastics.
Ace
But tennis is what she loved most - and Sweden’s Bjorn Borg, the former men’s world No 1.
Her booming serves, powerful backhand strokes and agility made her an ace on the tennis court.
Even back then, Thakur-Rajbansi proved to be an outstanding negotiator.
“The other girls wore skirts or shorts to play sport in those years but because I excelled at various sports codes I was able to get permission from my teachers to play in track pants,” said Thakur-Rajbansi.
When she looks at the picture of herself and the rest of the school’s tennis team, she’s reminded of how sport brought out a different side to her.
“I am grateful to our tennis coach Mr Ahmed Paruk for introducing us to tennis,” Thakur-Rajbansi said.
But once she completed matric her father Devjeith laid down the law.
“He told me that in apartheid South Africa a career in sport was out of the question and that I should study science.”
Thakur-Rajbansi is grateful that the youth of today have greater opportunities to pursue their dreams.