The daughter of daily wage labourers who once did not have the money to buy a bus ticket to travel to Hyderabad academy and whose parents were repeatedly taunted for having a mentally challenged child has made India proud by smashing the world record at the World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan, on Monday.
Deepthi Jeevanji from Kalleda village in Warangal district had won the women’s 400M T20 category gold in 55.07 seconds, breaking the record set by Breanna Clark of USA (55.12 seconds) at the last edition of the Worlds in Paris in 2023. Turkey’s Aysel Onder finished second in 55.19 seconds while Lizanshela Angulo of Ecuador was third in 56.68 seconds. “Deepti endured a tough childhood. Her parents were taunted by the villagers for having a mentally challenged child. They are daily wage labourers and are always worried about their child. As part of our foundation (Deepti was the beneficiary of the Gopichand-Myntrah foundation), we identified her talent and brought her here,” said athletics coach Nagpuri Ramesh.
