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Producing champions
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The victory of Delhi Public School, Hyderabad, in the All-India inter-school (DPS) meet proves its students' mettle
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A perfect start! For a school which till recently has been more focussed only on academics, Delhi Public School (Hyderabad) caught the imagination of one and all in the inaugural All-India Inter Delhi Public Schools' athletic meet by emerging as overall champions. A success story which reflected the newfound interest of the principal, Rekha Agarwala, and the sports advisor and former S.A.I. coach, M. Ranga Rao.
Ranga Rao started with a small batch of seven girls and six boys in March this year, and obviously saw abundance of talent amongst the school children and is keen to write a different script on the sporting front.
Credited with spotting Athens Olympian Satti Geetha when he was with the A.P. Sports School in 1992 and then grooming P. Shankar, the national 400-metre record-holder, Rao strongly believes that it is schools like DPS, which can contribute in producing genuine talent. "With sharp learning skills, these youngsters show better reception to various training methods," he says.
Ranga Rao says unlike other schools where funding could be a major problem even for participation of athletes, his students are in a more comfortable position. "We are determined to prove that corporate schools do have the potential to produce sports champions, and not just brilliant students," Rao asserts.
Talent hunt
And to realise his dream, Rao, who was incidentally one of the personal trainers for international athletes Neelam J. Singh and Shakti Singh, will soon launch a talent hunt to scout 40 boys and girls for special training, and also introduce cricket, tennis and basketball over the next few weeks. "Once the school reopens, the response should be good," he says. The focus will be on intensive training in the age groups of under-14 and 16. "Once we are able to find a group of talented athletes, DPS will start competing in the annual All-India CBSE meets," he points out. DPS is setting a trend for other corporate schools to diversify into sports in a big way.
The gold medal winners in the recent All-India DPS inter-school athletic meet in Aligarh where Hyderabad emerged overall champions include Akshita Bhopal (long jump), Pooja Rangi Shetty (shotput) and Akshara Raj Singh (high jump). Yashika Handa settled for a bronze in the 200 m while the 4 x 400 m relay squad comprising Akshita, Akshara, Pooja and Syed J. Fatima picked up a silver each.
V.V. SUBRAHMANYAM
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