CHENNAI : It is almost 9 am by the time we enter the Pachaiyappa’s ground. Scanning the sandy field, we spot children clad in vibrant tracks warming up on one end. Marching steadily across the ground, under an unforgiving sun, we approach the lone girl practising a slow fitness routine. Roshni pauses, spotting us, and her face lights up with a smile. “I just had a ligament tear on my leg, so I am trying not to strain myself too much. But I should be able to run well again soon, I was just warming up,” she says, as she guides us into a small room within the premises.
Roshni K, a student of in St Francis Xavier Higher Secondary School, is a rising athlete. She won gold in 200 m and 400 m at the State Athletics Meet held in August 2017. She is presently training hard to qualify for the finals of the World School Games that will be held in Morocco, before which she has to attend a World School Games Trials in Lucknow at the end of this month.“I was in class 7 when I started taking an interest in running. Initially, I was just having fun, and soon I wanted to take it up seriously,” she smiles. Roshni began competing at the state and then national levels, giving her best every time and wanting to do better at every race. “My first best run, I would say, was the Senior State where I ran 400 m in 56.9 seconds. It got me a lot of encouragement and recognition,” she recalls.
The 18-year-old recently finished writing her class 12 boards. She loves sports, but gives equal importance to studies as well. “Recently I got an opportunity to go to Jamaica for a race, but unfortunately I couldn’t go because it was during my boards. I couldn’t have missed my exams. I am now looking forward to more such opportunities in the future,” she says, her excitement evident.
One doesn’t have to look far to see where Roshni’s support comes from — all her family members are sports enthusiasts. “Everybody in my family enjoys sports — my father used to play kabaddi, both my brothers are national level athletes. They motivated and pushed me into doing this as well,” she says. Who is her biggest source of inspiration? The answer comes instantly. “It is definitely my coach, P Nagarajan sir. He is extremely talented. The kind of dedication he has is so inspiring. He spends so much time with us to train us and his aim is to send us to the Olympics,” she says.
Taking every race as a learning, Roshni says that she has worked really hard. “I would wake up at 5.30 am every day, run for a few hours, go to school, come back and then run for a few more hours. It was only studies and sports at that point of time, but now that I am done with school, I hope it would be better for me,” she adds.