Truck driver’s son from Udupi strikes gold at South Asian Games

[email protected] (CD Network)
February 7, 2016

Udupi, Feb 7: An atmosphere of celebration prevailed in a poor household of Chittoo village in Kundapur taluk of Udupi district after 24-year-old Gururaja won a gold medal at the 12th South Asian Games in Guwahati on Saturday.

gururaj

This son of a truck driver made it to the top due to sheer hard work and dedication, despite all the financial hardships the family faced in the village.

He is the fifth among six sons of Mahabala and Paddu Poojary. The entire family was ecstatic after hearing the news of Gururaja winning gold in the 56 kg weightlifting category.

“Gururaja was only interested in sports since his childhood, so we encouraged him. Though sometimes it was difficult to get the money, I somehow managed,” said his father.

Gururaja did his schooling at the Sri Mookambika Temple School and PU College in Kollur. During his PU days, he was interested in wrestling, and learnt it under his coach Sukesh Shetty in Kollur.

The turning point came when he joined the SDM College in Ujire, Dakshina Kannada, for his graduation. It was his coach Rajendra Prasad M. who encouraged him in weight lifting.

“Gururaja used to practise two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening. During competitions, he used to put in two additional hours,” he said. Mr. Prasad coached him for five years until Gururaja got selected for the post of aircraft-man in the Indian Air Force under sports quota. He has been undergoing training in Belagavi for six months.

Gururaja, who spoke over the telephone from Guwahati, said he owed his success to the unstinting support of his parents, and his coach Mr. Prasad.

Comments

A. Mangalore
 - 
Sunday, 7 Feb 2016

He has made our Mangalore proud. Congratulations Dear.There are lots of youths are their like Gururaja. Unfortunately without proper education , finance and proper guidance they could not achieve anything.
Most of them are under the fold of Sangha Pariwar, where their rich leaders sends there own children abroad for education and they use these boys for goondasm in Mangalore.

Suresh kamke
 - 
Sunday, 7 Feb 2016

nice lift, hardwork came to like a fruit.

Manjuran
 - 
Sunday, 7 Feb 2016

really great, working for indian airforce only a big achievement,. clubbing to that he took gold medal in weight lifting, proud to be mangalorean.

Manish Sisodia
 - 
Sunday, 7 Feb 2016

parents really lucky to have this kid, god bless u all

Mahesh
 - 
Sunday, 7 Feb 2016

awesome lift, deserve the golden medal,

Ahmed
 - 
Sunday, 7 Feb 2016

Congratulation Mr. Gururaj... Good Luck ...

Goodman
 - 
Sunday, 7 Feb 2016

Not only a Tuck driver, even a lowest in the man made caste system cam also participate and they are also a human being.
He is in the open society. He can dream and accomplish it.

The constitution is secular, but the people of some sects are making polarization.
The God has not made such division.

Saleem Baigh
 - 
Sunday, 7 Feb 2016

Parents must be proud of him, did a very good achievement.

Koli Fayaz
 - 
Sunday, 7 Feb 2016

excellent, well done all the best keep up the winning movement.

Anwar
 - 
Sunday, 7 Feb 2016

Congrats Gururaj,U have made the country proud.All the best for Olympics.

Rich Muslim Fathers Son(Father in Gulf,Father big business in Mlore) from Mangalore roams in City Center/Forum...hahaha...Wa avasthe marre.Care ijji.

Marali schoolige alla...dakshina kannadada makkalige bekirudu Shale/Colleginalli sari daarige/100% markige.

Just go and see Aloysius/Milagris muslim students mark....hahaha...lagadi pother matha....ONLY JOLLY.

keshava Poojary
 - 
Sunday, 7 Feb 2016

live example for poor family kids, if someone want to get success they dont need anybody, hardwork make them success.

Mahabala
 - 
Sunday, 7 Feb 2016

we are proud of you, a national salute to the brave boy.

Vinith Poojary
 - 
Sunday, 7 Feb 2016

well done boy, keep it up and congratulation.

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News Network
June 10,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 10: The Karnataka government on Wednesday said coronavirus tests conducted in the state has crossed the four lakh mark, while the recovery rate remained at 44 per cent.

Sharing the daily COVID-19 bulletin on his Twitter handle, Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said till Tuesday 4,00,257 samples were tested in 71 COVID-19 testing labs across the state.

"Karnataka crossed 4 lakh tests mark on Tuesday. So far, we tested 4,00,257 samples in 71 #COVID19 testing labs across the state with a positivity rate of 1.4 per cent," he said.

He tweeted that the state's recovery rate remained healthy at 44 per cent with 2,605 discharges and 5,921 cumulative cases.

The minister said Karnataka was home to nearly a tenth of the total testing labs in India.

According to the Karnataka Health department, out of the four lakh odd samples tested, 3,87,027 samples were reported negative.

The total active cases in the state as on Tuesday evening were 3,248 whereas 66 people lost their lives to coronavirus so far.

Major contributors to the spike in COVID-19 cases in Karnataka are those who returned from Maharashtra recently.

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News Network
January 14,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 14: Assuring depositors that their money was "100 per cent safe" with the bank, Sri Guru Raghavendra Sahakara Bank Chairman K Ramakrishna in Bengaluru on Monday said 62 loans had locked up Rs 300 crore of deposit.

"Your money is 100 per cent safe with Sri Guru Raghavendra Sahakara Bank. It's my responsibility," Ramakrishna said at Sri Guru Narasimha Kalyanamandira auditorium, to assure depositors.

He was addressing angry customers of the bank at a public hearing. Due to the 62 dud loans, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had restricted the lender from executing business, Ramakrishna said amid shouting by depositors. The RBI has limited withdrawals by depositors to Rs 35,000.

"The bank is saying I can't withdraw more than Rs 35,000. In case of our fixed deposit maturing, we will have to renew it as we can't encash it, " said Nagaraj M, 49, who has been dealing with the bank for the past six years.

To assuage customers, the call to an assistant commissioner of police by Bengaluru South MP Tejaswi Surya -- not present -- was relayed on loudspeaker live and the MP claimed that he had spoken to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to help the customers.

Ramakrishna said he would meet customers again on January 19 with all the details and numbers. Dramatic scenes and pandemonium ruled the auditorium before his arrival. Thousands of bank customers threatened to go en masse to the police station and file a case against Ramakrishna.

As he addressed the gathering in Kannada, hundreds of depositors shouted back at him seeking clarifications. At the auditorium, thousands of depositors earlier demanded the bank chairman's presence to clarify the matter.

The lender had invited depositors to the auditorium at 6 p.m. to update them on the bank's status, following a RBI directive restricting the bank from doing business with immediate effect.

"We want the bank's directors here," shouted a depositor from the stage. A handful of policemen were trying to control the crowd and bring order to the assembly. Many elderly and retired persons had arrived to know the fate of their savings. Several women were also present at the meeting.

"It was a good bank with only 0.5 per cent NPAs. Now we can't trust any bank. See what happened with the PMC Bank," said another customer.

Shankar Sharma, 38, an employee of a private company, said majority of depositors were senior citizens and retirees. "I don't have an account with the bank, but my mother, uncle, aunt have deposited money in it. I came for them, " said Sharma. He said many of the bank's 35,000 clientele deposited more than Rs 5 lakh, which had total deposits of Rs 1,600 crore. The bank started operations in 1999.

Ramakrishna was escorted away to safety by the police after his speech even as the depositors were screaming and agitating for justice.

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News Network
May 15,2020

Bengaluru, May 15: There is no trace of community spread of COVID-19 pandemic in Karnataka due to the strict measures taken by the State Government, Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said on Friday.

All those tested positive for the virus here have arrived from other states and are currently being treated in quarantine centres, he tweeted.

Over 25 per cent of the COVID-19 positive cases, which were detected in the state, were related to those who had either come from abroad or other states, and only about 7 per cent cases were associated with the influenza-like diseases, his tweet further read.

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