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Amazing grace

Confident and graceful, S. Niveditha Sri could be a National champ in the making

PHOTO: S. SIVA SARAVANAN

HARD WORK PAYS S. Niveditha.

She may not have had the best of facilities at school and the gymnasium, but she has managed to come out triumphant in the State and the South India championships at Karur and Attur recently.

S. Niveditha Sri is a gymnast with lots of grace and gut.

Niveditha's performance at the Karur and Salem championships was a reward for her hard work.

The 16-year-old emerged the overall winner in the senior category at Karur and finished second overall at the Salem event.

Nerves and tempers are usually frayed when it comes to a State championship, but Niveditha never loses her cool.

At the age of 12, the student of the Corporation GHSS on Oppanakkara Street first went to the gymnasium for the heck of it.

"Initially, I wanted to keep myself physically fit and flexible but as the months rolled by my love affair with the sport began to bloom," says Niveditha.

Asked whether she had entered the discipline a bit late, she says, "The younger, the easier, I do agree, but gymnastics is not all about age. It's the interest and the confidence that matters. I have that in me."

She owes her success to her parents. "They are my biggest gift and very precious to me. Only I know the kind of struggle that they went through to make life easier as a gymnast for me."

"My younger brother Poojashri Ayyappan is also a gymnast and has earned laurels at the State championship in the mini and sub-junior categories. In fact, he is senior to me in the sport as he started at an earlier age. I have picked a lot of techniques from him. He has also corrected my flaws. I have a lot of confidence in him and he will do his State and country proud."

Niveditha loves the rhythmic events. "Rhythmic events need no big infrastructure. Just an open hall will suffice. That's one reason I concentrate more on that."

"Kerala and Andhra Pradesh boasts of the best coaches and facilities but here we will have to make do with limited resources. I don't blame anybody for it," says S. Manimekhalai, Niveditha's mother. "We have decided not to save money and instead, invest it on our children and we are confident that they will not let us down," says her father N. Sampath.

There are others like her coach Chinnasamy, M. Ammanullah, G.K. Selvakumar and Dr. Thirunavukarasu who have played an important role in her life. "I thank each one of them," says Niveditha. Niveditha aims to win a national medal before she completes her schooling. She believes she can do it.

"I am very confident about my ability," she says.

RAYAN ROZARIO

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