Distraught after a failed gender test that led her to attempt suicide, Indian athlete Santhi Soundarajan has turned to coaching and transferred her dreams to her new charges.
“One of my students will win a medal in the 2014 Asian Games,” Santhi told reporters in an interview. “That’s my dream, that’s what I am working toward.”
Santhi was stripped of her women’s 800m silver medal in the 2006 Asian Games after failing a gender test and was admitted to hospital last September following a suicide bid.
PHOTO: AFP
“I was shattered by the failed test,” she said in Tamil. “The Athletics Federation of India did not support me, did not fight my cause. I was hoping they would. I was depressed. I felt like I had lost everything. It still hurts. I loved the sport so much. My dream broken, I attempted suicide.”
The 28-year-old athlete found hope in coaching as she struggled to recover from the traumatic experience.
“My sports career had ended, but I wanted to stay in the only thing that I know — athletics. That’s the reason for my re-entry,” she said.
Two months after her suicide attempt, Santhi launched her own academy in her home town of Pudukkottai in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
“I have 68 students at the academy,” she said, pride filling her eyes. “I run a hostel for 10 talented boys. I’ve taken a house, provide food and also stay with them.”
One of her pupils won the Chennai marathon and another finished third in the event, she said.
Santhi, who is also an athletics coach with the regional government, said she was looking for a government grant to help her run the hostel.
“I won’t be able to continue it on my own for long,” she said. “It costs 10,000 rupees [US$212] a month to run it. I put in some of my money and some people help. I try and provide kit and food for all the children at the academy. They come from poor families and only if we provide these facilities will they come.”
Santhi, like many Indian track and field athletes, took up sport to find a secure job and escape grinding poverty.
One of five children of brick-kiln laborers she overcame malnutrition as a child to become a middle-distance runner.
“I know what poverty feels like. I have begged ... food as a child,” Santhi said. “As a kid, my coach arranged for food for me. I want to do the same for these needy children.”
The Philadelphia 76ers, fueled by 36 points from Tyrese Maxey and a triple-double from Joel Embiid, on Thursday beat the Houston Rockets 128-122 in an NBA overtime thriller. Cameroonian big man Embiid scored 32 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and handed out 10 assists, posting the ninth triple-double of his career to help the Sixers end the Rockets’ three-game winning streak. Rockets star Kevin Durant scored 36 points and Amen Thompson added 17, but Thompson was scoreless in the fourth quarter. Even so, the Rockets led by nine midway through the final frame, Maxey tying it at 115-115 with 40.1 seconds left. Durant missed a
MARRED FINAL: As most of Senegalese players walked off the pitch after a controversial decision, some supporters threw objects and attempted to get onto the pitch Senegal on Sunday won the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) as Pape Gueye’s extra-time winner sunk hosts Morocco 1-0 after a chaotic final that saw the eventual champions storm off the pitch late in the game. Brahim Diaz could have won the trophy for Morocco with a controversial spot-kick in the 24th minute of added time at the end of normal time as ugly scenes broke out in the stands. However, Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy easily saved the weak attempted “Panenka” chip by the Real Madrid winger, who was clearly distracted by the long delay that followed the penalty award.
Qatar’s Nasser al-Attiyah on Saturday secured his sixth Dakar Rally car title in Saudi Arabia with Luciano Benavides scraping home by two seconds to claim the motorbike title. “We’ve worked very hard since last year. I might not be showing much emotion yet, but it’s there, deep down. We are so happy to win,” al-Attiyah said at the finish. Al-Attiyah, at the wheel of a Dacia, only had to avoid a final day slip-up to top the podium after bringing his career tally of stage wins to 50 on Friday. The 55-year-old, who took clay pigeon shooting bronze at the
Tobias Harris on Monday scored 25 points as the Detroit Pistons held off the Boston Celtics to score a 104-103 victory in their top-of-the-table Eastern Conference showdown. Harris was one of four Detroit players to finish in double figures, with Jalen Duren adding 18 points and point guard Cade Cunningham scoring 16 points with 14 assists. The win sees Detroit extend their lead at the top of the Eastern Conference to 31-10, 5.5 games ahead of second-placed Boston, who fell to 26-16 with the defeat. Jaylen Brown led the Celtics scoring with 32 points and almost snatched victory in the
RSS