Meet Udupi pickup truck driver’s son who won India’s first medal at 2018 Commonwealth Games

coastaldigest.com news network
April 5, 2018

Gururaja Poojary aka P Gururaja, one of the prominent weightlifters of India, has made his country proud again by opening the gates for India’s wins in the 2018 Commonwealth Games being held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia.

Son of a pick-up-truck driver from Chitturu village in Kundapur taluk of Udupi district, 25-year-old Gururaja entered the 56 kg category, and clinched the silver medal.

Gururaja, the fifth son of Mahabala Poojary and Paddu Poojary couple, hails from a very humble background. He completed primary education at Vandse village and later joined a school managed by Sri Mookambika temple, Kollur. He drew inspiration from Suresh Shetty Hosmat, who was the physical education instructor, while he was studying in PU.

He ventured into wrestling but ended up becoming a weightlifter. He was trained under Rajendra Prasad, while doing under graduation at SDM College, Ujire.

“When I started weightlifting in 2010, things were hard at home. I needed money for my diet and supplements, but my father couldn’t support me. We were a family of eight. Things are better now,” said an Gururaja.

How Gururaja overcame challenges

Gururaja remembers a decade old accident on the stretch that passed anonymously but shook his family and almost forced him out of the sport. His father was ferrying mostly brick from Mangaluru to different parts of the state to sustain his wife and eight children. For nearly a week, though, leading up to the wedding, the truck was in the shed.

But what was to be week of celebration ended in tears. That was when his father’s assistant (vernacularly known as kili), decided to make a quick buck and took the vehicle without his permission. The truck plunged into a gorge, killing the assistant and shattering the vehicle on the eve of the wedding. 

“As such we had just enough to sustain ourselves, now the accident meant that my father was not only out of job but in huge debt. The vehicle belonged to a landlord there. Add to that, the money for the wedding. We were in deep emotional turmoil,” recollects Gururaja.

Teenager Gururaja then decided to ease his father’s burden by forsaking the sport and realigning his priorities to fetch a government job at the earliest. Straightaway, after he reached college, he explained his situation to coach Rajendra Prasad, who then comforted with words that still ring in his ears when he’s is lifting twice or thrice his body weight in a competition. 

“He told me that a champion is not always self-made, but made by the society, and even if he has to sell his property, he will support him. He called everybody in the gym, narrated my story and requested to pool in money for me,” he says.

So they took turns to buy him stuff, according to his needs. “Among them was a boy from Bangalore, who was relatively well off. He used to provide money for food supplements,” he says. Back home, a few of his father’s friends funded him to buy a second-hand auto-rickshaw. Gururaja’s elder brothers began to shoulder more responsibility, and began to manage enough money to slowly start paying off their debts. And his dreams began to blossom.

Comments

ABDUL JALEEL
 - 
Saturday, 7 Apr 2018

Great .... true hero

Suresh Kumar
 - 
Thursday, 5 Apr 2018

Wow.. He is just 25.. great brother.. I am 29 and still not achieved or not doing anything. anyway congrats

Sandesh
 - 
Thursday, 5 Apr 2018

Leave, from where you are coming, in which situation you are.. only hardwork can compensate those things.. There's only one thing you can't go without if you want to succeed in any area of life, and that's hard workHard work is the key to success!

Reshma
 - 
Thursday, 5 Apr 2018

Great.. proud moments.. congrats brother

Kumar
 - 
Thursday, 5 Apr 2018

Another better expert training may make him to win in Olympics.. All the best

Mohan
 - 
Thursday, 5 Apr 2018

Future olympics medal is safe in his hand

Ganesh
 - 
Thursday, 5 Apr 2018

Congrats bro. Hardwork and humbleness made you to achieve this much height.. 

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coastaldigest.com news network
July 2,2020

Mangaluru, JuJ 2: Dr Shivaram Karanth Biological Park at Pilikula, which was recently reopened after covid-19 lockdown, will again be shut from July 4 to 31. 

“The authorities have decided to close the park for visitors from July 4 to July 31 due to the rapid increase of the spread of coronavirus in Dakshina Kannada,” said, Jayaprakash Bhandary, director of the Park.

Mr Bhandary said that after the reopening of the Park, the number of visitors has drastically decreased due to corona scare. 

“There are around 100 staff and over 30 caretakers at the zoo. After closing the zoo, only essential staff will come to the zoo take care of the animals. We are planning to reopen it for visitors on August 1,” he said.

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News Network
March 11,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 11: The Insurance Regulatory Authority of India has asked insurers to settle all claims related to coronavirus expeditiously under existing health policies that provide for treatment of hospitalisation expenses.

It has also asked insurers to design products covering the cost of treatment of coronavirus that has fast spread across the world and also resulted in increasing number of infections in India. There has been over 3,000 deaths globally and 58 cases tested positive in India.

In order to provide need-based health insurance coverage, insurers are intro ducing products for various specific diseases, including vector borne diseases. "For the purpose of meeting health insurance requirements of various sections, insurers are advised to design products covering the costs of treatment for coronavirus," the IRDAI said in a circular.

The regulator said that under existing health insurance policies where hospitalisation is covered, not only the cases related to coronvirus disease (COVID-19) shall be expeditiously handled, but all the costs of admissible medic al expenses during the course of treatment, including the treatment during quarantine period, should be settled in accordance to the applicable terms and conditions of policy contract and the extant regulatory framework.

This would bring much needed relief to policy holders some of whom were facing difficulty in getting coverage for treatment takers to coronavirus. In the absence of clear information, a few hospitals were reportedly denying for forward such claims of policy holders to the insurers.

IRDAI has now said that all the claims reported under COVID-19 shall be thoro ughly reviewed by review committee before repudiating the claims. This would prevent blanket rejection of such claims.

But to get full claim for treatment of coronavirus, industry experts said, a person should be hospitalised at least for 24 hours. Most insurers do not c over outpatient treatment.

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News Network
May 4,2020

Mangaluru, May 4: In line with the directive of the Deputy Commissioner against opening textile shops even after the relaxation of lockdown, it has been decided to continue the closure of all textile shops in Hampankatta area of Mangaluru until the end of the blessed Ramadan, President of KTA Youth Forum said on Monday.

Pointing out that several rumours were doing the rounds in social media on the opening of textile shops in the wake of Eid, the owners of textile shops met on Monday morning and unanimously decided against opening the shops. The association said the local MLA has also been consulted on the issue.

KTA Youth Forum is an organisation of owners of shops at Kunil Centre in Tokyo Market and Akbar Complex here, mostly comprising of Muslims.

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