Dang’s tribal girl wins gold in inter-university meet

SURAT: Sarita Gayakwad, a 22-year-old tribal girl from Dang district, won the gold medal in 400-metre run in All India Inter-University Athletics Championships at Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu on Friday. Sarita, who is a first year student in Arts and Commerce College at Chikli in Navsari district, which is affiliated to Veer Narmad South Gujarat University, took just 54.85 seconds to complete the race.
“Her achievement is special because she took up athletics just three years ago and is today ranked eighth in the country in 400-metre race.She was a Kho Kho player earlier,” VNSGU team manager Jayesh Butani said.
Sarita hails from Karadi Amba village in Dang district and her father is a farmer. Her family earns just Rs14,000 per year apart from some income from crops. Sarita said, “I have been a champion of my university and have also won events in Khel Mahakumbh. I had bought my running shoes from the money that I received in prizes. It would be good if some organization shows interest in sponsoring me which will help me improve my performance further. My family can’t afford to spend money on my training and clothes.”
She is undergoing training at the national camp at Patiala for the past two months. If she has to break the national record of 51.05 seconds in 400-metre set by Manjit Kaur in 2004, she has to train hard. This means lots of money and time.
“My wish is to participate in 2020 Olympics and win a medal for the country. I have three years to prepare and am confident of making it big in international stage,” she said.