THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:Though born as a Maharashtrian, destiny had it that Siddharth Pardeshi bag a gold for Kerala in the 35th National Games, that too by setting a new record score of 402.95 points in 10 metre platform diving.
A Class XII student at Army Sports Institute, Pune, he had no second thoughts about joining the Kerala team as both his coaches, Manish at the institute and Ravisekhar Prasad at the national-level being Keralites.
This young gold medallist aims at nothing less than Rio Olympics 2016.
“I had been representing Kerala for all three years in my four-year stint with diving. I felt so proud to achieve a gold the other day,” Sidharth said at the ‘Meet the Star’ programme organised by the Press Club here.
To participate in the National Games, he had been in the capital for the past six months. He shifted his studies to Kendriya Vidyalaya, Pangode, to get as many trials at the Aquatics Complex, Pirappancode.
Coach Ravisekhar Prasad finds that the ability of his student to act with accuracy and his speed led to his success.
“Siddharth has the ability to pick up commands and apply it immediately.
A pre-requisite for a diver is the combined act of body and mind and Siddharth is good at the same. Right from the training period, we noticed this and that helped later in developing the flexibility of his body,” Ravisekhar Prasad said.
The coach said that for the state to grab more accolades in this category, advanced facilities such as a diving pit, diving stand and better coaching is required in addition to the swimming pool and diving board which are now on offer at the Pune institute.
National Games is also a family affair for Siddharth as two more members from the Pardeshi family are part of the Games- his father Bajrang Pardeshi, a Kabaddi coach and elder sister Snehal Pardeshi, a participant in wrestling 75 kg category- both representing their home states.
Back home Siddharth has his mother Rohini Pardeshi, a home-maker and younger brother Sujal Pardeshi, a Class X student. The state has much more to expect from this 17-year-old in the three metre and one metre spring board categories happening this week.