By Chetna Sinha | Founder, Mann Deshi Foundation
Dear friends,
It is our pleasure to share that 28 young athletes between 8 and 12, issued from the Mann Deshi Champions program, were chosen to for the Balewadi national sports school, this selection was national level selection, from Maharashtra 270 were selected out of that 28 were selected from Mann Taluka alone. These kids were getting training and coaching and guidance at Mann deshi champions ground. I would like to take this opportunity to tell you the story of Kajal, one of the girls selected from our program. She is only ten years old, but runs 800 meters in less than two minutes and thirty seconds.
Kajal comes from a very poor family. For six months out of the year, she lives and goes to school in Mhaswad, but for the six remaining months, she migrates with her parents to the sugarcane plantations six hours away. While her parents work on the fields and cut the sugarcane, she takes care of her younger siblings. While in school, her physical education teacher quickly recognized her talent and wanted to train her year round, requesting that her parents not take her to the fields during their period of migration. She was soon able to train with other kids that were honing their skills with the goal of entering the state selection of athletics.
For the past five months, 35 children have been staying at the Mann Deshi Champions field, training hard to be selected for the district level. In previous years, children from our area were rarely good enough to make it to the selection. This year, for the first time, 28 out of 30 children participating in the Mann Deshi Champions Program were selected to represent the Satara District. The 28 young athletes are now competing at state level, and will hopefully go on to compete at a national level soon.
We are so proud of all of our Mann Deshi Champions, and they prove to be a continuous source of inspiration. Most of the children are coming from poor backgrounds, and it’s heartwarming to see them accomplish their goals and dreams.
Please feel free to share.
Thank you all.
Chetna Sinha ,
Founder, Mann Deshi Foundation
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