If the village of Sansarpur on the outskirts of Jalandhar is viewed as the nursery for more than a dozen hockey Olympians, then Sathuvachari in Vellore deserves the description as the home of weightlifters.
While the hero from that sleepy village, Sathish Kumar Sivalingam, captured the nation’s attention with gold in the 77kg category at Glasgow on Monday, the ethos of this iron sport is very much etched in this hamlet which has produced a sizeable number of internationally acclaimed lifters.
Actually, the weightlifting centre in the fifties was Tuticorin from where V.A. Mookan donned India colours at the Melbourne Olympics in 1956 and finished 12th in the bantam class.
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It was Tamil Selvan who made this village proud with a silver medal in the Edmonton CWG in 1978. The conditions were not conducive to developing talent at that point. The facilities were minimal and primitive.
But that did not deter the youth in the village. The inspiration from Tamil Selvan’s success was enough to shape a sizeable number of internationals such as G. Devan (Arjuna Awardee), B. Thangamni (silver medallist at the 1981 Commonwealth Championship, Brisbane), Akilan, M. Velu, S. Elambaruthi, K. Bather, K. Palani, Devamani and T. Muthu.
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Two others, Adesekar (gold) and V. Murugan (bronze) in 1994 Victoria (Canada) are from this district —Arakonam.
Coach hails Sathish
Hailing the achievement of Sathish, the first gold medallist from Sathuvachari, former Secretary, Tamil Nadu Weightlifting Association and coach, Tamil Selvan, said that the reward for the 22-year old Southern Railway clerk was the result of the exemplary foundation training at the junior camps and the dedication displayed by Sathish towards the work schedules. Tamil Selvan coached him from 2010 to 2012.
Thanking the Chief Minister on behalf of the weightlifting fraternity for the handsome Rs. 50 lakh incentive, Tamil Selvan appealed to the authorities to establish a hostel-cum-training-centre at Sathuvachari.
He acknowledged the involvement of SDAT in enhancing the gym facilities over the years but underlined the importance of a hostel to provide continuous training for the youngsters, who are inspired by the outstanding success of Sathish Kumar at Glasgow.