NEWS
Daughter of daily wage earners broke all shackles and rose to great heights. A classic example of how with sheer dedication and hard work, anything is possible. She is the first woman athlete from Gujarat to win an Asian gold medal for India. Sarita Gayakwad is truly an inspiration and her life story sure needs to be celebrated.
There were days when she ran barefoot because she didn’t have money even to buy shoes. There were days when she lived in a thatched hut when she couldn’t even get her mother a pressure cooker. But she did not let any of that deter her from her goal. She fought every obstacle to emerge triumphant. Let’s explore her inspiring tale…
Details | |
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Full Name | Saritaben Laxmanbhai Gayakwad |
Age | 26 years (as of 2020) |
Sport Category | Track and Field, 400 metres and 400 metres hurdles |
Date of Birth | 1 June 1994 |
Hometown | Amba, Gujarat, India |
Height | 168 cm |
Weight | 58 kg |
Coach | KS Ajimon |
--Sarita Gayakwad was born and brought up in a tribal village of Kharadi Amba in Dang district. Her tryst with sports began in the childhood itself. In an interview, Sarita revealed how she would get inspired by watching the likes of Sania Mirza and others on DD sports channel at her uncle’s place. “I wanted to be like them, I wanted to wear India’s T-shirt and make my country proud,” she said.
However, her family faced a lot of financial problems, and it wasn’t easy for them to sponsor sports equipment for Sarita. For many years they stayed in a thatched hut.
Initially, Sarita played kho kho as well and represented Gujarat state 17 times in national level competitions. After initial success in track and field as well as kho kho, she had to make a choice in order to give utmost focus to one game.
She was selected in a talent hunt program in 2012, which gave a big boost to her career. There she first won 400m running and 4x 400m relay.
Sarita was first noticed by athletics coach KS Ajimon. He saw a spark in her and wanted to ensure that she got the best training to hone her skills. Sarita started training at Nadiad’s Center of Excellence. Her coaches at Nadiad and Patiala played a huge rule at the beginning of her career.
“I was very impressed when I first saw her in June 2015. She covered 400m in about one minute and I knew she was made for bigger things,” Ajimon was quoted by Asian Age.
She established herself as an athlete with superb potential by winning a bronze medal in 2014-2015, silver in 2015-2016, and a gold medal in 2016-2017 in Inter-University National level athletics tournament.
After that, she was included in the Indian training camp at Patiala. She represented India at the Asian Championship in 2017. She also won 2 gold medals at the Asian Games trials.
All this meant that Sarita Gayakwad was in great shape to qualify for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. And qualify she did! In fact, Sarita became the first track and field athlete from Gujarat to qualify for the Commonwealth Games. However, she couldn’t turn her qualification into a medal, finishing seventh in the final.
But the disappointment did set the stage for bigger things.
Sarita Gayakwad turned the failure at the 2018 Commonwealth Games into her strength and put a great performance at the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games.
Sarita, along with her teammates – MR Poovamma, Hima Das, and VK Vismaya, won the gold medal with a timing of 3:28.72.
Sarita’s Asian Games gold medal was celebrated with a lot of grandeur in her Karadi Amba village. Along with her own home, the entire village seemed to be celebrating a big festival. Sweets were distributed and firecrackers were burst. Traditional Dangi dance was performed by the village troupe.
“We are very happy and proud that Sarita has won the gold medal. The whole country is celebrating her success,” Sarita’s father Laxmanbhai told DNA India.
Year | Place | Event | Medal |
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2018 | Jakarta, Indonesia | Women’s 4*400 m | Gold |
Year | Place | Event | Medal |
---|---|---|---|
2019 | Doha, Qatar | Women’s 4*400 m | Silver |
2019 | Doha, Qatar | 400 m hurdles | Bronze |
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