Orissa's local club in Berhampur producing international weightlifters

BERHAMPUR: Commonwealth Games gold medal winner K Ravi Kumar is another product of the Veer Hanuman Club in this southern Orissa town to figure in the list of successful weightlifters.Veer Hanuman Club, a private gymnasium organisation, has produced international lifters like Bijay Kumar Satapathy, Chandra Sekhar Sahu and Tikina Gopal from the town.Satapathy, also an Arjuna Award winner, had grabbed silver in the 1982 CWG held in Australia, and gold medal in the 1981 Mini-Commonwealth Games.Railway employee Sahu had clinched gold in the SAARC sports meet in 1990.Similarly, Tikina Gopal had also won silver and bronze in the Junior and Senior Asian Championship, while Ranu Mohanty, a girl from the town won medals in international events in power lifting.Now Ravi Kumar has broken all records and grabbed gold in the ongoing Commonwealth Games and also set a record by lifting 321 kg - the highest in CWG's history."Berhampur has a long history in weightlifting.Lifters from the town have taken part in international competitions and brought medals for the country," said Ramesh Padhy, a former weightlifter.The club was established in 1940 with some assistance from sportslovers of the town."We are very proud of what our club members have achieved at the international level," said general secretary of the club Narayan Sahu.The club aims at producing more sportspersons to compete in international events, said Sahu, also the joint secretary of the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF).Although the state government has established a centre to impart training in weightlifting in the sports hostel here, the infrastructure facilities do not match international standards."We have urged the government to provide necessary infrastructure facilities at the centre to enable the students to compete in the international events," said coach Dharma Rao.
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Source: PTI