Feels great to be a woman & achieve this: Dhar on AIFF award
After winning the Female Assistant Referee of the Year award, Riiohlang Dhar says she will do her best in all assignments
Shillong, May 5: Riiohlang Dhar has broken the glass ceiling as a woman football referee by winning the AIFF Female Assistant Referee of the Year.
Dhar, who is from Jowai in West Jaintia Hills, made history in 2021 when FIFA named her as one of the match officials for the Asian Football Confederation Women’s Asian Cup India 2022. She was the first woman from Meghalaya and the entire North East to achieve the feat.
I’ll do my best in all the upcoming assignments, whether in India or abroad. I look forward to the upcoming assignment in Wuhan, China, from May 21-24. It’s the AFC Champion’s League Semifinal and Final.
“I’m happy to be the first person to receive the award. It feels great and honoured, especially being a woman where people are very biased between men and women in all aspects. Many people still think that women cannot do what men can… they talk about women’s empowerment, but the same people will try to bring you down if you become more successful than them,” Dhar, who is in the Meghalaya Police, told Meghalaya Monitor.
“I’m glad that AIFF is taking this initiative, and it has started to acknowledge and give us (women) this Award since we also have women referees who officiate matches. They even become referees for men’s matches in their own places,” she added.
In an interview, she said she wanted to dedicate the award to her parents, who never stopped her from getting into sports.
Dhar is a dedicated policewoman and takes her job seriously. Besides, football is her love and passion.
“I’ll do my best in all the upcoming assignments, whether in India or abroad. I look forward to the upcoming assignment in Wuhan, China, from May 21-24. It’s the AFC Champion’s League Semifinal and Final,” she said. She will be the assistant referee.
