Champion has no money to pursue her sporting dreams

DHNS

• Power lifter pleads with CM for job to support her ailing mother

 

Bangalore, 26 Jun 2012: Tears welling up in her eyes, she stood watching her daughter receive a cheque from the chief minister for being a high-performing sportsperson.

 

But they weren’t tears of joy. She looked more burdened when Supritha Poojary came back to her with just the cheque leaf. She kept nudging the 21-year-old to go back to the chief minister and ask for a job. But he left in a hurry.

 

The scene was played out on Monday morning at Krishna, the home office of Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, who minutes before felicitating Poojary, a power-lifting champion, had spoken about creating job opportunities for the youth in the State.

 

Little did he know that Supritha, who brought home eight gold medals from London, was herself a desperate job-seeker. The Mangalore-based self-taught athlete had made India proud last December when she won the medals at the Commonwealth Power Lifting Championships (72 kg junior).

 

Supritha, a BCom graduate, is frantically looking for a job, not only because she needs the money to prepare herself for the upcoming World Cup in Poland, but also the fate of her ailing mother and their future hang on her shoulders.

 

“I don’t want this Rs 55,000 cheque. All I want is a job, so that my mother and I can stop being a burden on my uncle and I can support my sick mother,” she told Deccan Herald. Her mother Shaila Poojary, a chronic diabetic, is suffering from kidney and heart ailments.

 

The athlete has lost count of the number of job applications she has shot off. “It is unfortunate that the State does not have a government quota for sportspersons. I had appealed to the chief minister last month when he was in Mangalore, but to no avail. That’s why my mother was keen that I speak to him again today,” she added.

 

Supritha’s is an inspiring story. Daughter of a carpenter, who is no more, she started training in power-lifting three years ago with no coach to guide or train her.

 

She learnt the art by watching athletes do it a gymnasium. As there was never enough money, her mother was forced to pawn her jewellery while Supritha raised the remaining amount through sponsorships to participate in the London championship.

 

“I am determined to pursue my sporting career because I have single-handedly achieved what I have. But I’ll need at least Rs 10,000 every month to sustain the cost of training,” she says. Supritha, who is nursing a wrist injury, is also in need of a surgery.

 

“I can’t afford to worry about my wrist now. I am training every day by wrapping cloth around my wrist tighter to reduce the pain,” she adds. Another adversity Supritha faces is the lack of equipment and a place for her to practise, as the track at the Mangalore Mangala stadium is being upgraded.

 

“I can’t run and the gym is cramped. I am also forced to borrow everything - equipment to costumes - from outside the State,” she says.