Thiruvananthapuram  :

Nothing short of gold,  goes Suji S Rani’s route to success. The girl-next-door for the city, this shot putter hailing from the coastal village of Pozhiyoor in the capital stands tall by having clinched the first slot for shot put event three times in a row.  She clinched  her latest gold in senior girls shot put event at the ongoing 58th Kerala State Schools Athletics Championship at LNCPE, Kariavattom, on Tuesday.

‘’I want to stay focussed in the sport for long and work hard to better my results in future. When I join college to pursue higher studies, I want to stay next to my school, Government VHSS Mathirappilly, which has been the bedrock of my achievements,’’ she said.

Alongside her winning laurels, this young talent needs more support to scale greater heights and a house tops her wishlist. Her father Santhosh, who was at the venue on Tuesday, showed the black-and-white photographs of his family standing in front of the crumbled thatched-roof dwelling on three cents of land.

‘’The government has promised us a home when Suji took part in the national meet in Ranchi and won a bronze medal. The verification process was over only two weeks ago. Now we are residing at my sister’s home,’’ her father said.

The sole income for the family is the earnings from a provision store run by her Suji’s father. Suji has an elder brother pursuing his doing a degree course in Hotel Management. Her  father admits that he is not earning enough to realise his daughter’s dream.

Suji does not prefer to stay idle and on holidays she uses the free time to practice in a work area at the place near her house as well as the nearest stadium in Pozhiyoor.

‘’My coach P I Babu sir has advised me to keep on practising to hone the talent. His coaching advice increases my self-confidence,’’ she says.

source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> Cities> Thiruvananthapuram / by Meera Manu / December 10th, 2014