Sweta: Sprint to success

Jamshedpur, Feb. 21: Sweta Kumari Tirkey might be 13 years old and hail from a remote village in Gumla, but her long-distance running abilities have won her a place in the Tata Athletics Academy (TAA).

The academy?s coach, Satnam Singh, a former international athlete, spotted Sweta during a meet in Gumla last May. She was asked to attend the selection trials scheduled in the steel city in November.

But, in September, she came to Jamshedpur for a rural sports meet, where she won the 3,000-m gold. The performance impressed Tata Steel sports department chief Satish Pillai, and the youngster subsequently joined the academy last month.

?Promising and having the potential to become a fine long-distance runner? is how Pillai describes her. ?She is young and seems to have the required skills to run long distances. A little bit of guidance would do her a world of good.?

Sweta?s coach Bagicha Singh is also impressed with his student, who is ?obedient and never skips training sessions?.

?She is a good listener and does what she has been instructed to. She has just joined the academy and we are judging her. But looks like she will excel in due course.?

The budding athlete is understandably happy at being selected to train at a prestigious academy. ?I think I am still a bit jittery. I belong to a village where there is no electricity and this place looks good and lively. Till last year, I thought I was destined to compete only in school-level meets. But things changed for the better quickly I am slowly getting acclimatised to the conditions here?.

She also she misses her parents ?very much?.

A natural athlete in the making, Sweta has been running since she was just three-years-old. ?I loved running in the jungles. I don?t know about the distance I cover, but I think it was long. I never felt tired.?