For Buchannagari Raju, son of a farmer from a relatively obscure village Vempet in Karimnagar district of Telangana, it has been a truly memorable journey in the world of sports. Despite his team Rajasthan Warriors’ poor show in the Ultimate Kho Kho League, Raju has every reason to feel satisfied.
Raju, who started the sport at the age of 12 at the Zilla Parishad School, continued his passion for the game despite the touch of sarcasm his friends used to throw at him ‘for playing a sport which they felt had no future’.
Interestingly, many of those who were with him at the start left the sport but Raju was unrelenting and kept working hard to earn a place for the State in the Sub-junior nationals and then in the Senior nationals in 2016.
A stint which made the critics take note of his impressive show and which also fetched him a job (Grade I post in the Mechanical Department of South Central Railway) at the age of 19.
Bucking the trend of many from his village looking to Dubai as the destination for jobs, Raju preferred to play Kho Kho, often borrowing money from his friends and relatives. And, soon he had every reason to feel proud playing a key role in Railways winning the Senior Nationals.
“My job coupled with the UKK League, which elevated our game to the next level with professional coaches monitoring us, changed the perspective of a lot of people... now many are motivated to look at the sport with a lot of hope,” Raju said in a chat with The Hindu.
“I feel great that people in my village watch me in action on TV and many kids are playing the sport there,” Raju added.
