Yulia Kurakina from Ukraine loves being a
cheerleader at the IPL, but the pandemic has stolen the cheer this year. She
was all excited and looking forward to be in India for the much-awaited cricket
carnival, like every other year, but that was not to be. Not only was the event
shifted to UAE, it was made off limits for spectators and cheerleaders.

“These are tough times and yes
because of pandemic all the sectors have been impacted in some way or the
other. The stadium is without spectators and without cheerleaders. Basically,
no one to cheer for their favourite team on the ground. As a professional, the
impact left on us is bad,” Yulia told Opoyi.

Not the one to sit and do nothing, Yulia
switched  to plan B — being a gymnastics
coach. She trains young girls.

For obvious reasons, this IPL season is
far from normal. Those jam-packed stadiums, groups of cheerleaders, dancing to
the tunes of fours and sixes and the charged up ambience, all’s missing,
courtesy COVID-19. Following the social distancing norms, all the matches are
being held without audiences or cheerleaders. This has badly impacted these
professionals, monetarily.

From being a banker,
school teacher, gymnast to dancer back home, cheerleaders, who used to look
forward to visiting India every year for IPL, has been hit by the pandemic in
2020. Before the pandemic, till about last year,  these professionals
travelled to India  from Ukraine, Russia, Belgium, and Norway for the job
that paid them decent extra money.

They used to cheer for their
favourite team in full valour and were also getting the opportunity to earn
big.

 “The cheerleaders looked
forward to visiting India during the IPL but this is time we could not
participate as there are restrictions on travel and complete ban of
cheerleaders and spectators in the stadium,” Yulia said.

Anastasia Kucherenko, another
cheerleader and professional gymnast, says that “It has left a very negative
impact on cheerleading” and “all are projects which were in the pipeline took a
back seat. There is no work and no cheerleading activity across.”

“As professionals, our income
has been hit with no other work in this field. But we have to look for other
means as well,” she told Opoyi.

The feeling is no different for
cheerleader and professional gymnast Lidiia Fomenko too who says that “IPL is
less enjoyable without us I think.”

“COVID has impacted all lives,
all sectors globally. IPL is happening without cheerleaders this time and is
sure everyone will miss the action of the cheerleaders. It has put a very
adverse effect on our sector,” she said.

These cheerleaders were regular
at IPL till last season. Augustus Communications, the company that used to
bring them to India, is looking forward to their continued association with IPL
every year as it is a more than 2 months extravaganza.

“This year due to the pandemic
situation, It has deeply impacted our business and we are left with no choice
since the IPL had to move out of India,”  Charu Shrivastava, Director
of  Augustus Communications, told Opoyi.

The IPL has 8 teams and the
tournament runs from Sep 19 to Nov 10. Most cheerleaders for these teams are a
mix of Indian and foreign faces but the domination of western names is quite
prominent.

Yulia says that this might be
the reason “because we have been into cheerleading since our childhood and
because of which we bring different acrobat styles in our performance which
people of India love to see along with foreign faces as cheerleaders.”

For Anastasia, “Indian audiences
might love to see our style of performance which is quite unique.”

Even  Shrivastava 
says that “Indians love to see foreign faces.”

“Foreign cheerleaders are into
this mainstream profession of cheerleading. They are skilled professionals who
start their training early from childhood. The kind of acrobat stunts like full
splits, backflips, somersault etc. which they can do is a treat to watch
especially in the jam-packed stadium, which is an alien style for Indian
audiences. They bring great excitement and a unique sense of style with their
performances,” she said.

As per reports, foreign
cheerleaders get fees depending on the circumstances. However, it is mandatory
for companies in India to pay foreign workers at least $25,000 on an annual
basis to perform and work.

“We were taken care of really
well in terms of hotel, travel, and other facilities and of course with good
remuneration,” echoed all three cheerleaders.

So how are they keeping
themselves busy nowadays in times of no IPL participation?

“Our industry has been impacted
the most I think. Some of us do not have permanent jobs. We are trying to take
classes on dance and other skills that we have as another source of income,”
Yulia told Opoyi.

Cheerleading for them is not just an odd job but an industry and many of them are grooming the Gen Next for the same.

Anastasia says that since they
are professional gymnasts, “We are now trying to give lessons to kids and other
girls who want to take up cheerleading as a profession.”

And so is Lidiia who says that
“we are giving coaching to others and this is keeping us busy and also adds as
another source of income.”