Weightlifter Minati Das with her gold medal in Berhampur. Picture by Gopal Krishna Reddy

Berhampur, Oct. 19: Seventeen-year-old Berhampur girl Minati Das, who lifted a total of 100kg in three snatches and won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Youth and Junior Weightlifting Championship at Cape Town in South Africa last week, is back in her hometown.

The weightlifter, who was given a grand welcome here on Monday, has stressed the necessity of a Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre at Berhampur to boost weightlifting as a sport.

“There are only a handful of female weightlifters in Orissa, especially in Berhampur, which is known as the cradle of weightlifting. Setting up a SAI centre here will encourage female weightlifters. This will also give us opportunities to grab medals at national and international weightlifting championships and bring laurels for the state and country,” Minati said.

She added weightlifters require a special nutritious diet for physical fitness and it’s expensive. “It would have been great had the government taken initiatives in this regard,” said Minati.

A student of Class X at Government Girls’ High School, Minati has been practising weightlifting at Veer Hanuman Circus and Physical Institute (VHCPI), which also groomed Commonwealth gold medallist Ravi Kumar.

Minati is delighted with her recent success.

“I am extremely happy. I had never thought I would win a gold medal at the Commonwealth Youth and Junior Weightlifting. The success has boosted my morale. I now aim at success at senior national-level weightlifting championships,” she said.

Minati gives the credit for her success to coaches at the Veer Hanuman institute — Yagnya Narayan Nanda, Sita Prasad Patnaik, Ramesh Chandra Padhi and Narayan Sahu. “The encouragement from my parents played a vital role in building my confidence,” she said.

“Minati is very hardworking. Even though she is usually busy with studies and weightlifting, she even helps me in cooking,” said her mother Manju Das. “None of her siblings are into sports. She is an exception in our family. We are proud of her,” she added.

Residents of Berhampur, accompanied by traditional drums, had gathered in huge numbers to receive Minati at the railway station yesterday.

Narayan Sahu, secretary of the Veer Hanuman institute and also of the Orissa Weightlifting Association (OWA), congratulated Minati. “She is indeed talented and will go very far in this field. Also, she has rightly pointed out that a SAI centre should come up in this city that has produced so many weightlifters,” he said.

Sub-collector of Berhampur Ajit Kumar Mishra, who was present at the reception, said steps would be taken to strengthen the infrastructure of weightlifting in the city.