VELLORE: Over half a century ago, two men built a small thatched structure in a nondescript corner of Sathuvachari, some 130 kilometres west of the bustling city of Madras. Modest in all aspects, that little shack was nonetheless a “gym” to practice what they referred to reverently as the “iron sport” aka weightlifting.
A few lads soon joined the gym and, in the dim light cast by oil lamps, put in blood, sweat and tears for countless nights. The founders of the gym—Siva, a government staff, and Panjacharam—didn’t know it at the time, but they were scripting history and a glorious one at that.
In the 50 years since that little gym was set up, Sathuvachari has churned out many internationally-acclaimed weightlifters, including Tamil Selvan who bagged silver in the 1978 Edmonton Commonwealth Games (CWG); M Velu, bronze medallist at the 1980 London CWG; Sathish Kumar Sivalingam, gold medallist at the 2014 Glasgow CWG; and Arjuna awardee G Devan.
The town was so successful in sculpting weightlifters that it earned the moniker India’s small town of Bulgaria, an east European country that competed with the erstwhile Soviet Union for the top spot in international weightlifting in 1970s and 80s. “Back in the ’70s, there was no facility in our town; we used to lift grinding stones during training,” said Velu, who also recalled how Siva and Panjacharam introduced the sport to them and dedicated their entire lives to it.
Velu set a record in the 1978 junior nationals in 95kg snatch and 115kg clean-and-jerk. Employment offers poured in and he accepted the one from Southern Railway. “All I had was determination. I used to trek up a hillock where my family worked land. After my chores, I would go to the gym, train till late into the night and then return home atop the hill.”
Velu was the first from Vellore district to land a job in Southern Railway through weightlifting, said K Mahendran, an Olympian and recipient of 1986 Tamil Nadu Maamallan Award. Others who trained with Velu also bagged medals in national and state-level competitions and secured jobs in the Indian Army, the Navy, and the Railways.
Sathuvachari’s legacy continues to inspire youth from the town to take up weightlifting. “It’s the third generation from the town that has taken up this iron sport,” said Thirunavukkarasu, another weightlifter. Among them is 20-year-old Ramkumar, who won silver in 160kg snatch in national games. He is now an employee of Central Railway in Jabalpur.
Another talent is V Rithika, who bagged bronze in 49kg category in Junior World Weightlifting Championship held in Greece between May 2 and 10.Veteran weightlifters here hope that more youth to take it up. They believe that Sathuvachari owes a lot to weightlifting as it brought not only fame but also prosperity to its shores.