Coimbatore:

Boxing. It’s the only focus of 14-year-old D R Harshita. And her dream is to make it big in the sport.

She was introduced to martial arts such as Karate and Taekwondo at the age of eight. But, Harshita knew that boxing was her call. The sport, she said, gave her the much needed courage and strength to face anything in life.

“It started with small incentives that I got in terms of cash prizes when I won district and state level competitions. I knew this was a way to not only help my struggling parents but also to become brave,” Harshita said.

Harshita has won three consecutive gold medals at the state-level in the 48-50kg weight category under the 14 age group. She also has represented the state at the national level event. At the Khelo India, organised by the National sports Authority of India in January this year, she was placed fourth.

The journey has not been an easy one. Harshita’s father Ramesh Arvind is a farmer and mother, a system analyst. “Harshita’s father faced huge losses in business 20 years ago and since then we had been struggling to make both the ends meet. I started to work to support the family,” said P Jayanthi, her mother.

“I decided to teach both my daughters martial arts so that they could protect themselves. But seeing their passion for boxing, we decided to support them,” Jayanthi said. Harshita’s elder sister R Yashwantika is also a boxer and has won medals at the district level.

Harshita said her role model had always been Mary Kom and other wrestlers. “Women face a lot of hardship in any sport. I just got hooked to boxing and wanted to set an example for others. Even today, when I look around, I find parents not letting their children travel alone as they are scared of their safety. I want this to change. I want parents to treat both sons and daughters equally,” she said.

Harshita’s coach Selva Shankar said he was proud of her and wanted parents to come forward and support their children when they take up sports like boxing. “Usually, we do not see many athletes or sports personalities from South India. But Harshita’s parents have set an example. They have helped both their daughters pursue their passion in a lesser known sport. Despite their hardships, they continue to support them,” Shankar said.

Alvernia matriculation higher secondary school for girls, he said, allows their students to take up boxing as a professional sport. “Usually, we do not see schools encouraging the sport. If more such schools help their students take up sports, we will have many international champions,” Shankar said.

Shankar now trains Harshita to help her qualify for international events that are scheduled for April in Malaysia.

Jayanthi said it was often difficult to fund her daughter’s sporting dream. “We had to work extra and collect money to ensure she was comfortable. We wanted to make things easy for her so that she could win at the state and national level,” she said.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News> City News> Coimbatore News / TNN / February 13th, 2017