TIRUCHY: Two athletes from Tiruchy shone in the U-21 athletics at the Khelo India Games 2020.
17-year-old Kevinaa Ashwine bagged a silver medal in high jump while 20-year-old Gailey Venister bagged bronze in the triple jump.
Ashwine jumped 1.64 m to win her medal while Venister jumped a distance of 15.51 m. Both winners have been trained by coach Suganthi.
For Ashwine, athletics runs in her genes as former international high jumper N Annavi and Suganthi are her parents. She started her tryst with high jump when she was 10 years old. She says it is her parents’ support and encouragement that helped her reach this level.
“I started participating in national competitions since I was below 14 and practise for five hours daily. I won my first national medal in the U-14 Nationals. My dream is to represent India internationally,” said Ashwine. This first-year BA Literature student of Holy Cross College, Tiruchy, dreams of participating in the Olympics.
Venister always had an interest in sports and started doing high jump since 2012. Since the past two years, he has been participating in triple jump. This second-year BA English student of St Joseph’s College, Tiruchy has won two national silver medals.
“I got into sports due to my liking for it. The reason for my success is hard work. If we like what we do, we can certainly excel in it. It was by chance my mother saw an article about the sports hostel in 2012. I joined in 2012 and trained for six years at the hostel. There has been no looking back after that,” he said.