UDUPI: Udupi district administration on Thursday honoured its own son-of-the-soil
Gururaja Poojary
, 25 who bagged a silver medal in the just concluded 21st
Commonwealth Games
at Gold Coast, Australia. It was Gururaja who opened India’s medal account on the first day of the competition with silver in men’s 56kg category. Gururaja had equalled his personal best of 249kg to finish second behind Malaysia’s Muhammad Izhar Ahmed.
Deputy Commissioner Priyanka Mary Francis who felicitated Gururaja said his performance is a matter of pride for the entire district and will inspire other athletes to excel in international sports meet. The support given by his family, hailing from a relatively poor economic background to help him excel in sport and his coaches and all those who stood by him, is laudatory, DC said and hoped all sportspersons learn from his endurance and ability to beat the odds.
Gururaja, thankful to the administration for having honoured him, said it is a matter of personal satisfaction for him to have bagged the silver in the Commonwealth Games. "The reception that I got when I came to the district after my medal winning feat was heart touching," he said, adding that such support should be available to all sportspersons. This will only help more sporting talent to blossom. Rural sporting talent need all the support they can get, he averred.
Setting sights to better the performance in Asian Games and World
weightlifting
championships, Gururaja said it is his aim to bag an Olympic medal for India in the future. "I will work hard to realize these personal aims which bring glory to the nation," he said. Shivananda Kapashi, CEO, Udupi ZP wished Gururaja realizes his ambition. Anuradha, additional DC and Roshan Kumar, assistant director, department of youth empowerment and sports were present.