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.”
Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday homered for the fifth consecutive game, tying a Los Angeles Dodgers franchise record. Yankees star Aaron Judge was the last player to homer in five consecutive games, accomplishing that feat last year. Ohtani, who leads the National League with 37 home runs, homered in the first inning off Minnesota Twins starter Chris Paddack. He hit a slow curveball 134m to center. He carried the bat midway down the first-base line and then did a bat flip. He did not hit a home run later in the game with the Dodgers trailing, but his presence was felt. With two outs
US top seed Taylor Fritz dropped an early yesterday morning marathon to Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina of Spain, while the UK’s Emma Raducanu and Canada’s Leylah Fernandez reached the semi-finals of the ATP and WTA DC Open. World number four Fritz, two points from victory in the ninth game, dropped the last five games in falling to the 26th-ranked Spaniard 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 7-5 after three hours and five minutes in a match ending just before 2am. Davidovich-Fokina advanced to the semi-final against US fourth seed Ben Shelton, who beat sixth-seeded hometown hero Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (7/2), 6-4. Fritz, who had 20 aces and six
Ben O’Connor won Thursday’s monster Alpine stage to the ski resort of Courchevel as three-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar responded to attacks from Jonas Vingegaard and dropped him to cement his grip on the yellow jersey. With just three stages left before the race ends in Paris, Pogacar looks poised to retain his title, with a comfortable lead of more than 4 minutes over Vingegaard, a two-time champion. Stage 18 featured three extremely difficult ascents, including the 26.4km climb of the Col de La Loze to the finish. At 2,304m, La Loze is the highest summit in this year’s Tour. Two
The 2025 International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Mr Universe Chinese Taipei competition began yesterday at Xinzhuang Gymnasium in New Taipei City, with more than 150 athletes showcasing their physiques. It is the first time in 16 years that the IFBB has held a competition in Taiwan, the last being the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung. The professional bodybuilding contest is bringing together athletes from Taiwan and 16 other countries, including Malaysia, Japan, the US, France and Mexico. IFBB Chinese Taipei president Hsu An-chin said in an interview yesterday that the event came to Taiwan thanks to his lobbying efforts at last