As teen wins overall bronze at World youth lifting
Olympian weightlifter K Ravi Kumar couldn't have been prouder after Odisha's Jyoshna Sabar grabbed the overall bronze in the 40 kg category at IWF World Youth Championships in Durres, Albania, on Saturday night.
The 14-year-old had a combined lift of 115kg (53kg in snatch and 62kg in clean & jerk) to finish third overall. She also won silver in the snatch section but finished sixth in the clean and jerk category in the seven-lifter field.
"It's an incredibly proud moment for all of us. This is her first international competition and she won a medal. Her achievement also reminded me of my first international medal when I won the silver at Asian Junior Championships in 2007," said Ravi, who has been working with Jyoshna at weightlifting High Performance Centre (HPC) in Bhubaneswar since March 2022.
"This is also memorable since after a four-year effort an athlete of the HPC has finally got an international medal," added Ravi, who not only participated in London Olympics but also won gold at 2010 Commonwealth Games and a silver at the 2014 meet.
As for Jyoshna, she comes from a very poor family from Petaka village of Gajapati district in Odisha and has no sports background. "Despite that, the speed and explosiveness that one needs to be a good weightlifter, are all there within her," added the Olympian.
"I was quite certain that she would win a silver or bronze at the competition. While she lifted just 115kgs at the competition, she has already started lifting 125kgs during the training sessions."
Irrespective of her performance, Ravi hasn't ever pushed her. "It's just that she is highly motivated to do well and very disciplined. I just pass on my experience," he added.
But coaching Jyoshna, who has also won a number of medals in national meets in recent times, hasn't been easy at all. "She is very emotional and we have to treat her with utmost care. She worries about her family a lot and whenever there is any problem there she breaks down," said Ravi.
It's quite natural though since she is still very young and she has to stay away from her family for long periods. Apart from her parents, she also has a young sister and her grandparents staying at the village.
Meanwhile, apart from Ravi, Hungarian weightlifter Farkas Zoltan, who joined the HPC in October 2022, has also been working with Jyoshna since January this year. However, her stint in Bhubaneswar is over for now as even greater things await her.
"She won't be training here anymore since she will be at the national camp in Patiala hereafter. We will be always there to guide and help her but she will be working with the national coaches from now on," said Col R K Sharma, general manager of weightlifting HPC at Kalinga Stadium.
After being selected through trials way back in 2019, she indeed has come a long way and one hopes she will achieve even better things in the coming days.
