A 22-year-old woman weightlifter has sent the gold medal and certificate won by her in a State-level championship to the Chief Minister Jayalalithaa demanding inclusion of weightlifting in the State Games for Chief Minister’s Trophy.
B. Sudha, a resident of Sundarakuttai near Gudiyatham, has participated in a number of State-level weightlifting championships and has bagged seven gold medals in the last five years. She had started to train in weightlifting when she was in class XI.
She won the seventh gold medal in the 58-kg category at the State-level senior championship conducted in Mannargudi on November 28 and 29.
“It is this gold medal and certificate that I have sent to the residence of the Chief Minister through registered post from the Head Post Office, Gudiyatham. This is to draw attention to my plea to include weightlifting in the CM’s Trophy tournament,” she said.
Daughter of a farmer, Ms. Sudha said she had already submitted a petition in this regard to the CM’s special cell earlier this year.
She received a reply stating that her petition has been forwarded to the respective department for appropriate action. “However, later, I received a letter from the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu that the government has not allotted funds for including weightlifting in the tournament,” she said.
“The CM had announced that State-level winners in the tournament will receive Rs. 1 lakh cash award. This cash award will help weightlifters like me to improve training and take nutritional supplements to participate in national level tournaments,” she added. Many of them were finding it difficult to take care of their nutritional needs as they needed at least Rs. 10,000 per month to meet the expenses, she added.
“I have not been able to participate in national events owing to financial constraints,” she noted.
