Coimbatore :
It was a double bonus for parents of twin sisters, both of whom won gold medals, at the state level Republic Day Athletic Meet in the city on Saturday.
While Vidhya won a gold medal in the under 17 400m category, her twin sister R Nithya won the Gold in the 100m hurdles, achieving a record breaking 14.8 seconds. The girls, students of the government girls higher secondary school in Erode were selected by the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu when they were in class 7.
“The two of them had an interest in sports from childhood. But it was only after they joined the sports hostel that they began to excel,” said their father Ramraj who is a driver with a private firm. The two sisters who were perhaps the only twins at the meet have won medals in some of the national events in previous years too. Ramraj and his wife Meena say that they encourage their children as much as they can. Their coach R Kanmanidevi says that the two are dedicated athletes on whom they have high hopes.
“We expect record breaking performances at the national level from them. They have been able to display consistent performance,” she said.
About 23 state records were broken at the three-day meet which concluded on Sunday. S Mithra Varun, a class 11 student at the city based Mani Higher Secondary School who won a gold medal at the discus throw, broke the record made in 1982. A computer applications student he wants to take up sports as a career. “My dream is to win a Gold Medal in the Olympics,” he says.
P Gowtham from Thirunelveli who broke an existing record in Pole Vault with 3.65 metres too wants to take up sports as a career. “Earlier, I used to participate in the High Jump event. I took up pole vault after my coach advised me so,” he said. The meet concluded on Sunday afternoon. Most of the winners will leave for the National Sports Meet to be held in Ranchi in the coming days.
source: http://www.articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Coimb atore> Gold Medal / TNN / January 06th, 2014