CHENNAI: After the Khel Ratna award was instituted in 1991-92, Viswanathan Anand became its first recipient. That a sportsperson born in Tamil Nadu was the inaugural winner of the country’s highest sporting honour filled the state with immense pride. That pride turned to despair as athletes from TN failed to replicate Anand’s successes at the international level. That nobody from the state had won this award since Anand indicates that.
That grim statistic changed on Friday when the sports ministry confirmed that Mariyappan Thangavelu would be one among five sportspersons — the others being cricketer Rohit Sharma, wrestler Vinesh Phogat, women’s hockey team captain Rani Rampal and TT player Manika Batra — to win the award this year. From the tenor in his voice itself, it’s clear that this means a lot to him.
“I am extremely happy to win this award, I thank the ministry and the federation for this one,” he told this daily. “This will only inspire me to win the gold at the Paralympics in 2021.” Mariyappan, who hails from Periya Vadagampatti, a small village in the outskirts of Salem, said he had an idea that he would receive this. “You can say I had the belief that I would win it this year.
This is the perfect reward for my perseverance and hardwork over the last four years.”The 25-year-old won the award courtesy his gold in the T-42 men’s high jump event in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. He followed that by winning bronze in the T63 discipline at last year’s World Para Championships. Even though the coronavirus pandemic has forced him indoors for a majority of 2020, his next goal is very clear.
“I have been training at a nearby school apart from doing home-based workouts. It’s very important to keep my mind and body in good shape. As far as I am concerned, I need to be at my best to achieve my goal, winning gold again next year (at the Tokyo Paralympics).” It’s something that is within his reach. In December 2019, he was ranked No 2 in the discipline. Having already qualified for the Games, he can afford to spend the next 12 months finetuning his technique.