CHENNAI: The Khelo India Youth Games is an excellent platform for budding youngsters to showcase their talents. The Games' structure is such that it offers players even from the remotest corners of the country an opportunity to exhibit their talent. Weightlifter Jyoshna is one such emerging talent who rose from abject poverty in a remote village in Odisha to shatter the national record.
The 15-year-old daughter of a small-time farmer has risen from this impoverished background to become one of India's leading junior weightlifters. After winning bronze at the World Youth Championships in Albania last year she shattered the national snatch record on her way to the gold medal in the 40kg category at the 6th Khelo Games in Chennai.
Jyoshna comes from such a remote part of Odisha that locating her house is like ''The Isis Adventure'' puzzle. A few months ago, Commonwealth Games gold medallist weightlifter K Ravi Kumar experienced it firsthand as it took him a whole day to find her house in the forested region of Odisha near the Andhra border. The road wasn't exactly motorable either. Fortunately, he spotted a man who turned out to be Jyoshna's grandfather and the old man guided them to Jyoshna's home in Gajapati district's Pekata, a village so remote that the nearest bus stop is a few hours by foot.
At the Games, Jyoshna lifted a total of 130 kgs, including 60 kg in Snatch (a new national record) and 70 kg in Clean and Jerk.
The target was to go after all three records - Snatch, Clean and Jerk and total. "Unfortunately, she failed an attempt in jerk, otherwise we would have broken jerk and total too. She is upset and repeatedly saying that she has not been able to achieve her target," said coach Ravi.Despite all the recent success, shy Jyoshna is still opening up to a world that she had no idea about until a couple of years ago.
"She is from a very humble and remote background. Only in the last few months has she begun to know more about the world, when she traveled for the World Championships. She does not speak much," opined coach Ravi.
Jyoshna's talent was spotted by coach Ramesh Chandra Pandhi at the NGO-run Gram Vikas School, Kankia, a residential facility for underprivileged children about 90km from Pekata. She was then selected for the Tenvic High Performance Centre, Bhubaneswar, where she studies in tenth grade at the Kalinga Institute.
Now Jyoshna's parents have become used to her winning medals, scholarships, and incentives, but aren't familiar at all with her sport. "Even after their daughter won a medal at the World Championships, they don't have much idea about weightlifting. But they are proud of their daughter," said coach Ravi. However back in Pekata and Kankia, she has become a big inspiration for numerous children.