laxita sandila taxi driver daugher win gold in asian under-20 athletics championship

Tushar Tere (Vadodara): 18-year-old Laxita Sandila first shot into limelight last year when she won two silver medals at the ISF World School Gymnasiad in France. The middle distance runner on Wednesday took another big step in the world of athletics by winning the gold medal in 1500 meters at the Asian Under-20 Athletics Championships in South Korea. Lakshit, daughter of taxi driver Vinod, is a resident of Vadodara. He has faced financial crunch to keep his dream on track. Vinod’s income can barely survive. Raising funds for her daughter’s training was a big challenge for her.

NGO and coach helped Lakshit

A few months ago, Vinod told our partner newspaper Times of India, ‘Athletics is expensive as Lakshit needs training, better quality shoes and a good physio too. After seeing his brilliant performance and desire to succeed, some NGOs have extended a helping hand. Even her coach Rippandeep Randhawana supported Lakshita a lot.

thanks to parents

Lakshita started off the start line with confidence and was trailing second place by a few seconds, but soon overtook the other girl and reached the finish line in 4 minutes and 24.23 seconds. He beat his previous personal best of 4:26.48 s by more than two seconds.

After winning the Asian Gold, Lakshita thanked her coach, parents and all the supporters. His father said – We are very proud of him. She was training hard for this tournament, so we were confident that she would bring home a medal.

PT considers Usha as ideal

Lakshita considers former athlete PT Usha as her role model. He had earlier said in an interview – I learned a lot just by watching his videos. My dream is to participate in the Olympics and win a medal for my country. In that interview, Lakshita had said that she started training for athletics in her teens itself. Lakshita, a BBA student, said, “It started when I was 14 years old. I used to play hockey initially but I have a relative coach and it was he who suggested that I take up individual sports. I enjoy running, so this was an option.

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