Berhampur girl grabs gold in CaWealth meet

Berhampur: Following in the footsteps of K Ravi Kumar, another weightlifter of the town, Minati Das, brought fame to the state. She won gold in the ongoing Commonwealth Youth Girls championship at Cape Town on Monday. Ravi, who had won the gold medal in the Commonwealth Games-2010, had also won the medal in the Commonwealth (youth) championships earlier.
Fifteen-year-old Minati of Old Berhampur area won in the 44-kg category, said vice-president of Indian Weightlifting Federation and general secretary of Berhampur-based Veer Hanuman Club Narayan Sahu. Seven girls from the country, including Das, were participating in the youth (girl) category.
Though Minati has participated in many national events, the commonwealth (youth) championship is her first international participation. She had a rigorous practise session in Bangalore before this. asShe had practiced for about two months in Bangalore after being selected for the commonwealth (youth) champion,a? Sahu said.
asWe are proud that another youth from our club won the prestigious medal in the international event,a? Sahu said. Minati practised at the club that is also the alma-mater of Ravi Kumar. asShe has talent and we had expected a gold from her,a? her former coach Ramesh Chandra Padhy said.
asWe came to know about her achievement from her coach,a? an excited Suprabha Das, Minatias elder sister, said. asMy family and our well-wishers are agog with joy after getting the news,a? she said.
Minati is the second daughter of Pramod Das, a farmer and leader of Ganjam District Scheduled Caste Federation. Out of his four children, Minati was the one very keen on sports. At present, she is a Class X student of Government Girlsa High School here.