Jayanti Behera was just a year old when she accidentally fell near a fire pit and burnt her left hand. The mishap left her with burn contracture on left elbow and non-functional fingers. Story of this 19-year-old para-athlete from that day till winning gold and silver medals at the World Junior Para-Athletic Championship 2017 in Switzerland, is nothing less than inspiring. She grabbed the gold medal in the women's 400 m T47 and captured a silver medal in the 200 m T47 events by clocking 1.01 minutes and 28.04 seconds respectively.
Jayanti, now preparing for the World Para-Athletic Championships to be held at Dubai in November this year, took up the sport when she was in school even though sprinting was a painful experience for her then. Born in a poor family in Manitilasahi village under Sakhigopal of Puri district, Jayanti is the youngest among three daughters of Kunja Behera and Ashamani. While Ashamani is a housewife, Kunja works as a daily labourer in coconut plantations of Sakhigopal.
After Jayanti recovered from the second-degree burn injuries, villagers would tell her parents that a physically-challenged girl would be a liability for them. Studying in Sri Ram Chandrapur High School in Sakhigopal, she would watch students run around and play. "I always wanted to run like them, play like them but I could not muster the courage until I reached Class VII," recalls the athlete. She took part in the school athletic meet and competed with normal children to win the first prize. Her running prowess was noticed by her coach, Bishnu Prasad Mishra, during the sports meet.
Kunja was unable to afford the nutrition or coaching that she requires but Mishra convinced the parents and brought the little champion to his Gurukul Athletic Training Centre at Sakhigopal where he has been training her for athletics free of cost. Soon, she started bringing laurels to the state by winning national and international medals in running events, the latest being the World Junior Para-Athletic Championship. She won silver and bronze medals in women's 400m and 200m events respectively at the third Asian para Games in Jakarta, besides gold and silver medals in 400 m and 800 m events respectively at the Odisha State Athletics meet in Cuttack last year.
"I have been staying in the Gurukul Athletic Training Centre for the last eight years and I owe it to my coach who has never made me feel that I am a differently-abled athlete", she says.
She had participated in the Under-20 and Under-18 sprinting events in the State athletic meets at Cuttack in 2013, 2014 and 2015 and grabbed gold and silver medals in 100 m, 200 m and 400 m events.
"Although I am good at 100 m and 200 m events in the national circuit, I prefer running 400 m. As my left hand is handicapped, I am unable to get the early speed from the starting blocks in 100 and 200 m events," says Jayanti, who is now practising on the synthetic tracks of Kalinga Stadium twice in a week. In fact, she saw synthetic tracks for the first time only after she won her first international medal in 2017 (won gold in 400 m and silver in 200 m events in China Open para Athletics Grand Prix Championship in 2017).
She is also undergoing training at the Abhinav Bindra Targeting Performance Centre in Bhubaneswar to minimise the negative impact of her disability on her performance in Dubai, for the last one year. Her priority, Jayanti says, is to get the first Olympic medal for the State in field and track event. But before that, she wants to win a gold at the World Para-Athletic Championships.
And is she confident of the win? "I am determined to win. I am giving my best", she signs off with a smile.