COIMBATORE: A female Grade II constable attached to the Coimbatore City Armed Reserve unit has secured gold in the 800-metre athletics event at the 65th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships, being held in Bhubaneswar in Odisha between June 24 and 28.
With the win, the 27-year-old constable -- J Gowthami, a native of Hosur in Krishnagiri district -- has now qualified for the 2026 Asian Games, to be held in Nagoya, Japan, in September.
At the Odisha event, Gowthami, representing the Tamil Nadu police team on behalf of the Tamil Nadu athletics contingent, finished first in the women's 800m running event within 2 minutes 4 seconds 17 microseconds, which is 1 second and 4 microseconds quicker than the time limit to qualify for the Asian Games.
Gowthami told the TNIE that up to 50 athletes from each state participated in the inter-state event, with over 70 from Tamil Nadu taking part. "It was an open-category event. After the first and second heats, 13 athletes were selected for the 2:12 task, where two from Tamil Nadu were selected for the finals. Among eight athletes, I secured first place and won the gold medal," she said.
At present, she has been residing at Udhagamandalam in the Nilgiris, along with her husband Sudhir (27), who is a sports therapist, and has been training for the Asian Games. Gowthami, who holds an undergraduate degree in English literature, said that she is part of the Tamil Nadu state police team camped at Ooty for high-altitude training under the guidance of Jayachndran, a coach from the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT). Gowthami has dedicated nearly 15 years of her life to training, besides between 2021 and 2023, where she took a break from practice.
The Coimbatore City police lauded Gowthami for her achievement and for bringing pride to the Tamil Nadu police department. Commissioner N Kannan conveyed his appreciation and wished the constable more success at the Asian Games.