Sixteen-year-old R. Naveen from Uravayal village near Karaikudi, who recently won gold medal in the 1000-metre sprint medley relay, also called as Swedish relay, in the recently concluded International School Sports Federation (ISF) Gymansiade in Trabzon in Turkey met District Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao on Monday.
Naveen, residing in Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu (SDAT) run sports hostel in Madurai, was the finisher in the event, thereby playing a crucial role in winning a gold for India. The country won 55 medals in various events in the Gymansiade, including 10 gold medals.
“In this relay, first person runs for 100 metres, second for 200 metres, third for 300 metres and I, the fourth person, run for 400 metres. When I received the baton from the third person, I was in the fourth position. However, I managed to come first with a 30-metre lead,” said Naveen, vividly recollecting the best moment of his life so far.
Naveen owes his interest in athletics to his father S.P. Ramu, who was once a national-level athletic player. “I spotted that my son also had the talent and encouraged him to pursue it. I couldn’t go beyond nationals. But I want my son to strike gold in Olympics,” Mr. Ramu said.
K.T. Rajakumar, the sports hostel manager here, said that Naveen really has the potential to participate in Olympics. “His records are good so far. In national-level Sports Games Federation of India, he ran 400 metres in 47.8 seconds, which was better than the record set in national-level inter-university championships,” he said.
K. Kannan, Naveen’s coach, said that he was about to participate in the individual 200-metre race but fell sick on the day of the event.
“In the heats conducted the day before, he came first. We were confident that he will win. But he developed vomiting probably due to food poisoning,” he said.
Strangely, it was during the Gymnasiade that a coup attempt was made by a section of military in Turkey. “But we did not hear anything about it. Everything went as per plan,” Naveen said.
Naveen, presently studying Plus Two in Chethana Matriculation Higher Secondary School, was felicitated by District Collector in the presence of Chief Educational Officer J. Angelo Irudayasamy and District Sports Officer S. Murugan.
