Teenage athlete Jyothikasri, a junior intermediate student of Sri Durga Malleswara Siddhartha Mahila Kalasala, is all set to take wings to Turkey to run at the World School athletic meet from July 11 to 18. This Tanuku-born youngster, who trained under Montessori School physical education teacher Seetharamaiah, is among the seven girls selected from the country and she will be taking part in the 400m and 4x400m relay events.
“She came into limelight when she won a bronze medal in the all India inter-district athletic championship at Visakhapatnam in 1,000m run,” says Sports Authority of India senior athletic coach Vinayak Prasad.
He said Jyothikasri would be admitted to SAI scheme and she would be trained at the Siddhartha Public School. “I want her to concentre on 400 and 200 metre events,” he added.
Financial aid
However, Jyothikasri’s participation in her maiden international meet was not that easy as she was asked to deposit Rs.1 lakh with the National School Games Federation as caution deposit.
Thanks to the gesture of Tanuku MLA A. Radhakrishna, who gave the required amount, Jyothikasri was able to complete all the necessary formalities to confirm her participation.
She is presently clocking 58.60 seconds in 400m and to win a medal at Turkey she needs to perform well under 53 seconds.
“For her, this trip will be a learning curve for she will run with athletes who were trained under better conditions. It is sad that Jyothikasri was not able to train on synthetic track, which is not present any where in Andhra Pradesh,” bemoans Vinayak.
The role of Siddhartha Mahila Kalalsa is also worth mentioning as the management is offering free education along with board and lodging to this talented athlete.
“My aim is to see her in the Andhra Pradesh contingent in the National Games to be held in AP in 2019,” says Prasad. College principal S. Vijaya Lakshmi and physical director Ravi Kanthi were present.
