Sky is the limit for these city girls

Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, November 11

Two city girls brought laurels to the city by bagging gold medals in All-India Taekwondo Players’ Championship held at Bikaner, Rajasthan. Prerna Madan (17) won a gold and a bronze medal in the weight category of more than 70 kg. Sujata represented 

Punjab in 57-kg weight category and won gold and bronze medals in the three-day championship that was held from October 26 to 28. 

Both girls are pursuing their graduation in Bachelors of Physical Education and Sports from Hansraj Mahila Mahavidyalaya College in city. 

Hailing from a middle- class family, Prerna who resides at Gopal Nagar here, said she started taking sports seriously after her father’s demise who always wanted her to achieve something big in life. She said she started learning taekwondo when she was in Class VII and after clinching a gold medal in a district championship, her father motivated her to continue playing the sport. Thereafter, she joined Olympia Games Academy to learn the tactics of the game. During this time, 

her father who was a contractor in a factory, breathed his last. 

Though a born singer, she gave up singing and limited it to a hobby only as she was fulfilling her father’s dream of becoming a sportsperson.” 

After practicing the game in her college, she takes tuitions and then again goes for practice at her academy. Prerna further added, the game not only taught her self-defence but also made her self-confident. Her brother who was also a Taekwondo player and had left the sports owing to financial circumstances said he was proud of her success. 

Sujata, who also opted for taekwondo out of curiosity said she never knew that she would come this far in the sport. A resident of Ramnagar, Sujata, aspires to join the Punjab Police and said she would continue with the sport even after joining the police force. 

Both girls are now practising for the inter-university and inter-college championships. They also appreciated the efforts of their coach who made them strong players. 

Meanwhile, Principal of the college Ajay Sareen congratulated the winners for the outstanding achievement.