For Ragala Venkata Rahul, the gifted weightlifter from Telangana Sports School (Hakimpet) near Hyderabad, the start to New Year could not have been more spectacular than winning two gold and a silver in the Junior Asian weightlifting championship in Doha. For the record, the 18-year-old Rahul, winner of many medals in the international events in the last few months, clinched honours in the 85 kg category. He bagged silver in the snatch (143 kg), gold each in clean and jerk (181 kg) and combined effort (324 kg).
“This is a highly creditable performance given the fact that the competition is really tough and that Rahul has maintained his cool under pressure on the big stage,” feels S. A. Singh, his mentor and coach at the Sports School.
For someone who could not take part in the World Championship late last year for seniors as he was too young to compete in it, Rahul has clearly set his goals on winning a medal for India in Olympics. “That is the ultimate goal I continue to chase,” he says with a big smile, clearly hiding hours of grit, hard work and commitment having come from such a rustic background back in Stuartpuram
Some of Rahul's major accomplishments in the last one year have been gold medals in the Youth Asian, Junior Asian and Junior Commonwealth championships, silver in 77 kg category in Youth Olympics in Nanjing (China).
Obviously, Rahul will have to set his sights on bigger events like the Senior Asian championships and the Commonwealth Championships in pursuit of his goal to seal a berth for the 2016 Rio Olympics.
“It is never going to be easy. And, a lot depends on how well Rahul can sustain his consistency at the highest level.
The best part is that he is in the Indian national camp right through in Patiala. Apparently, the coaches and the support staff should know it better what it takes to be a cut above from the rest,” feels the untiring Pachipala Manikyalu, the other coach at the Sports School who always keeps a close tab on the young weightlifter's performance graph.
For his part, Rahul is delighted with his latest feat. ""Ýes, for sure, this means a lot. Such a start to a New Year is crucial in terms of lifting your morale and also in resetting your goals,” he pointed out.
"Well, being in the national camp is a different kind of experience. You tend to know so many new things and the urge to keep improving will only increase. I must I am fortunate to have been groomed by coaches like SA Singh and Manikyalu Sirs in the formative years and Badeti Sir (AP Weightlifting Association Secretary) in the formative years who always stressed the importance of being disciplined and not just being talented enough," feels Rahul as he takes off for the much-needed break to enjoy the recent moments of success.
