A tribal girl's thirst for medal in Olympics

Kunavaram: It has been a long journey full of determination and hard for 19-year-old Kunja Rajitha to move from dense forest to the world of sports and become a national-level athlete.

Rajitha now aims to win a medal at the Olympics. If luck would not have favoured her, she would have been one among the many girls who go to dense forest areas and come back with firewood on their heads. She had lost father at a young age. Her siblings continue to gather forest wealth.

Rajitha originally belongs to Chhattisgarh but migrated to Andhra Pradesh long back. Rajitha and all other such families who migrated are facing a lot of problems as they do not get any assistance from the AP government. Rajitha's parents settled in Ramachandrapuram village of Pocharam panchayat in the Kunavaram Mandal. It is located at 130 km from Kunavaram and the Alluri Sitarama Raju District Centre. The plus point for this family was the interest her father and mother had shown in giving them education though it was beyond their means. She used to walk 20 kms to pursue her education every day.

Things started changing for her after she was admitted to the government residential school in Nellore when she was in class IX. Her teachers encouraged her in athletics. From there, she rose from district-level to national-level in athletics.

She started a new chapter in her life at the recent Khelo India Youth Games-2022 in Haryana. Won a gold medal in the 400m sprint event. Completed the event in just 56.07 seconds and brought fame to Andhra Pradesh. In 2019, she got the second place in the Khelo India edition held in Assam.

Rajitha said, "Teachers and coaches assisted me at every step." She joined the Tenwic Sports Academy in Nellore in 2018 for training. Gopichand-Mytrah Foundation was her sponsor. Coaches M Rasul and Krishna Mohan provided key training at the SAAP Centre of Excellence in Guntur.

She said Dronacharya awardee Ramesh had given her intensive coaching at Hyderabad for three years even during Covid-19 pandemic, she added. According to her brother Jogaiah, Rajitha was fond of running from childhood and used to participate in local competitions.

Sports Authority of India coach K Ramesh said she was a dedicated girl. He said she always used to say that workouts were easier than hardships she experienced. He said she has the mettle to win in the Olympics if big private companies come forward to extend financial support to her.