Rourkela: The steel city has always had a rich tradition in sports. Now, its young athletes are living up to its name and bringing laurels.
Sakhi Beskey, 16, a girl from Keonjhar's tribal community and an inmate of Sundargarh Sports Hostel, recently returned from Jamaica after training for a month at the Racers Track Club in Kingston that has trained the likes Usain Bolt and Yohan Blake. Beskey's training in Jamaica was sponsored by GAIL as part of its efforts to train track and field athletes ahead of the Olympics 2020 and 2024.
"She trained there for a month from February 1 till the end of the month," said Susmita Dutta, her coach at the hostel. She was selected last September in the Under-17 age group. The sprinter competes in 100m and 200m events. While she clocked 12.55 seconds in 100m before her training, she now clocks 12.35 seconds.
"And this is a really good improvement for a month's training," said Dutta.
Dutta has been coaching the girl for the past two years. In 2014, she was selected for the hostel and for stayed in the Bhubaneswar hostel for two months before being shifted to Sundargarh.
Dutta said: "She got the gold medal in the Under-14 national event before health issues took a toll on her performance."
Beskey had a year-long lean period as a result. "She is very shy, but dedicated and determined," said Dutta. "It took her some time to recoup from her illness but once she did, she is back to her best."
"The selection and initial training at GAIL is overseen by four top class athletes of India - Rachita Panda Mistry, Anuradha Biswal, PT Usha and Kabita Raut. Fourteen boys and girls were selected in the trial. Apart from Beskey, Krishna Munda from the Bhubaneswar hostel were selected," said Dutta.
"Of the 14 selected, 12 trained in Jamaica."
Mistry, who is from Rourkela, accompanied the team to Jamaica.
The one-month experience was an eye-opener for Beskey. She said: "The way we were trained totally changed my perception towards the game."
And the interaction with Usain Bolt was the best part as all of them got some good input. "Bolt sir is a nice and humble person and he was very keen about our training," she said.
The training was very hard but all of them enjoyed it, she said.
They used to train for nearly six to seven hours a day.
"Along with other activities swimming is a must to increase their stamina," said Dutta. The training was looking after their diet, physiotherapy and above all how to relax. "Relaxation is a must to ease the body," said Beskey.
While language was a barrier, Mistry's presence made it easier. "Rachita ma'am would translate what was being told to us and then we would do that," said Beskey.