KRISHNAGIRI: For 19-year-old Nithya Sre Sivan, her maiden paralympics outing at Paris is nothing short of a dream run, as the ace shuttler defeated Indonesian player Rina Marlina to lift the bronze medal in SH6 category.
Life was not a cakewalk for Nithya, native of Muneshwarar Nagar in Hosur, as she lost her mother when she was just two years old.
Ask her father N Sivan (50), he would say Nithya was very much interested in sports since her childhood. “She used to play with people in the street from the age of 10. Until Covid-19 spread, she used to attend a badminton academy near Hosur.
After the pandemic, I sent my daughter to Lucknow to practice para-badminton under the guidance of Gaurav Khanna, who is now the head coach of India’s para-badminton team,” he said, adding from class 1 to 10, Nithya studied in Hosur, and she completed classes 11 and 12 at Lucknow. Now, she is pursuing first-year degree course in Bengaluru.
Nithya’s brother also is a sportsperson, as he played in cricket till district- level, and is now a third-year student at a private medical college.
Sivan said Chief Minister MK Stalin and Prime Minister Narendra Modi wished his daughter after winning the medal. He thanked Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin for supporting the Olympians. Nithya will return to Hosur on Thursday.
Feathers in Nithya Sre sivan’s cap
Gold in Singles, Silver in Mixed Doubles in the Asian Youth Para Games, 2021.
Bronze in women singles and silver in women’s doubles in the BWF Para Badminton World Championships in 2024.
Bronze in Women’s Singles, Bronze in Women’s Doubles, and Bronze in Mixed Doubles in Asian Para Games, 2022.
Bronze in Singles, Bronze in Women’s Doubles and Bronze in Mixed Doubles in World Championships, 2022.
Total number of international medals won: Gold - 13, Silver - 10
and Bronze - 19
Current world ranking
Singles - 1, Women’s Doubles - 7 and Mixed Doubles - 4