This I didn’t even know while I was at school, and I can only blame a teenager’s general preoccupation with matters of only immediate concern for these glaring oversights:
Miss Suares was an Old Cottonian herself, AND she was a rare, female, successful athete in her twenties.
--------------------------------------------------------- At right: BCGS High School exam board, 1939, 4th from the top. (photo by Nazneen Tonse, 2015) --------------------------------------------------------
She represented India in 1951 in the first Asian Games in Delhi and almost medaled in High Jump.
She was team captain for Karnataka in athletics, hockey and basketball and was State Champion in 100m, 200m and hurdles. She also started the Women’s State Hockey Association and was the Secretary of the Banglaore Schools Athletic Association for 15 years.
And of course, she was our most respected Sports Teacher in a career that spanned 40 years in which she encouraged 1000s of girls to try their best.
For more info please view “The Real Marjorie”, available online as pdf document written by Leslie Carvalho for AITW (Anglos in the Wind), Vol 11, Issue 42, Sept 2015.
Also: her interview in Nov 2006 “Down Memory Lanes. She just can’t wait for the Games to begin”
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