City lads who won medals in SA accorded grand welcome

Coimbatore: P Bharath was accorded a hero’s welcome at the Coimbatore airport on Tuesday. He was among the six city boys who won medals at the commonwealth powerlifting championship held in South Africa on September 10.Bharath won gold in 74kg junior category. “I worked really hard for this for the past three years. I am glad that I have won gold and made the country proud,” he said.An English literature student, Bharath joined the gym to keep himself fit. But soon, powerlifting attracted him and he started training. “We knew he was good at it and hence allowed him to take it up, despite our poor financial condition,” said his father Palanisamy, who works as a lab assistant at Kongunadu Arts and Science College where Bharath is pursuing his studies.Others who made the city proud are M Venkatesh Prabhu who won gold in 93kg junior category, Vignesh Kumar who won gold in 59kg senior category, T Manikandan who won bronze in 83kg junior category, M Elango who won silver in 66kg senior category, and P Ravi Shankar who won silver in 105kg junior category.“We have totally won three gold, two silver and one bronze at the championship and we are extremely happy with the achievement,” said Nagarajan, secretary of the Tamil Nadu powerlifting association and their coach.The six were among the 72 selected from across the country based on their national championship rankings. More than 30 countries participated in the tournament.All the six from the city hail from middle class or lower middle class families. “Last year, we could not go to Canada where the event was held due to visa issues. This year, I was hopeful and sure that India would win big. These boys will be now trained for the world championships that will be held next year,” Nagarajan said.P Ravishnkar said many of them had already won tournaments at international level and it was a proud moment for them. “We want powerlifting to become an Olympic sport,” he said.