Included in India’s Commonwealth Games gymnastics squad after going to court, Rakesh Patra is desperate for a medal not just to prove his worth but also to become financially strong enough to change his family’s fortunes.<\/p>\n
The 26-year-old artistic gymnast was included in India’s CWG squad after he filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court when his name was initially omitted owing to a tussle between the Gymnastics federation and the Indian Olympic Association.<\/p>\n
Hailing from Odisha, the World Cup finalist has endured a tough journey so far, one that he hopes, will ease up with a good CWG showing.<\/p>\n
The many hardships of his life include surviving a fire tragedy that gutted his family’s thatched hut at Hadagadia Sahi in Puri when he was “about five years old”.<\/p>\n
But despite the challenges, his father Dayanidhi Patra, a primary school teacher in Brahmagiri School about 25 kilometres from Puri, ensured that he got all that was needed to shape into a decent athlete.<\/p>\n
“He would get about Rs 400 a month and spend more than half of that on me. I have seen them sleep without eating on some days. I still remember the pain,” Patra, a chief petty officer in Indian Navy, told PTI from Mumbai.<\/p>\n
Despite the hardships, senior Patra ensured that his son pursued his dreams on the insistence of his childhood coach Ashok Mishra and uncle Subhendu Patra, a former gymnast.<\/p>\n
“My uncle and coach told my father that I have a future in gymnastics. Despite being in academics, my father fully supported me. He ensured everything that’s needed to become a gymnast,” added Patra, who bagged his first national medal at the 2004 Sub-Junior Nationals in Kolkata.<\/p>\n
It’s been a long journey for Patra, who has been an India regular since 2010 Commonwealth and Asian Games, and was part of five World Championships, but a medal at the top level has eluded him.<\/p>\n
“It remains a regret,” he admitted. “But I hope things would change in next two years,” he said,.<\/p>\n
The rings and parallel bars specialist made the finals in both the events of last month’s World Cup in Melbourne.<\/p>\n
It included a fourth place finish in rings, behind his opponents from Japan and China who will not be seen in Gold Coast, something that has fuelled his dreams of a coveted medal.<\/p>\n
“I’m not going there setting my eyes on the medal. I know I will get a medal if I’m able to give my best show on the given day,” said Patra, who is based at Sports Authority of India’s Eastern Centre in Kolkata.<\/p>\n
“I’m slowly reaching perfection. I’ve about 20 days left and I hope for a perfect outing in the CWG. I will face strong opposition from England and Canada,” Patra, who leaves with the Indian contingent from New Delhi on March 31, said.<\/p>\n
Supported by GoSports Foundation, Patra went for a 20-day strengthening stint in China in June last year, and early this year he returned with three gold medals from an invitational meet in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
Patra has not visited his home for more than a year as his parents want him to “keep focus on training”.<\/p>\n
“I wanted to go there to dump my father’s cycle and gift a scooter to my father. But he rejected my suggestions, and told me ‘first win a medal and then come’. I cannot let all their hardships go in vain,” he concluded.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Included in India’s Commonwealth Games gymnastics squad after going to court, Rakesh Patra is desperate for a medal not just to prove his worth but also to become financially strong enough to change his family’s fortunes. The 26-year-old artistic gymnast was included in India’s CWG squad after he filed a writ petition in the Delhi High Court when his name was initially omitted owing to a tussle between the Gymnastics federation and the Indian Olympic Association. Hailing from Odisha, the World Cup finalist has endured a tough journey so far,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8274,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8273"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8273"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8275,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8273\/revisions\/8275"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dinnews.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}