Judo refree Mistry

Very few know that an Indian woman living in Sydney was an official referee in the Judo World Cup recently held in Perth, Australia. Her name is Deepali Mistry and you will hear more on her in years to come. She was the only female referee from Australia for this world event.

Her husband, Nosh Mistry, is a marathon runner and the first Parsi to compete in the International Ironman Triathlon held in Australia a few years ago, as reported in Parsiana (June 21, 2005).

During the 2007 World Cup Deepali got a continental referee licence and was among three referees around the world – male or female – to pass this daunting exam.

Intercontinental judo referee Deepali Mistry

The year 2007 has been good for pretty Deepali as she got her third Dan, which is third degree black belt in judo. Not surprising, as she has been a judoka (judo player) since she was four years old. Her inspiration was elder brother Nitin who represented India in judo at the Asian Games. "He was among the first Indian judokas to represent India overseas,” she says.

Any traumatic moments? "As a referee one has to be very careful in case a player gets unconscious. We have to handle the situation and act quickly. And there are times when players get agitated when they lose. Once a male judoka was in rage and was banned for three years. It was a traumatic moment but we have to handle such instances with a cool head!”

This comes from experience as Deepali, mother of a two-year-old, was nominated to represent Australia at the World Referee Seminar in Canada in 2005 and got her Oceania level refereeing licence in Tahiti in 2006. Thus judo queen Deepali Mistry is all set to rule!

Kersi Meher-Homji