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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News Network
July 21,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 21: Students who are Covid-19 positive but are asymptomatic will be allowed to write the Common Entrance Test (CET) scheduled on July 30 and 31 for entrance into professional courses in Karnataka.

According to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued by the Department of Health and Family Welfare for CET, space should be allotted for students who have tested positive. Such students will have to be transported to and from the exam centre in an ambulance.

According to the SOP issued yesterday, candidates with COVID-19 “shall provide a risk consent certificate for taking up the exam.” The SOP also says “they shall inform about their status to the authorities concerned in advance to make the necessary arrangements.”

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coastaldigest.com news network
March 2,2020

Kundapur, Mar 2: A 43-year-old man was arrested by the local police in Udupi district after he allegedly raised pro-Pakistan at Mini Vidhana Soudha in Kundapur today morning.

The man has been identified as Raghavendra Ganiga (43), a resident of Kody in Kundapur. He was working as a Hindi teacher in a private school in the town a few years ago.

According to sources, Ganiga arrived at the Mini Vidhana Soudha at around 10 am and scaled the steps to the building raising 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans repeatedly.

He continued to raise slogans on the corridor and after entering a hall.  A few people recorded this drama on their mobile phones and informed the police.

Later, Kundapur tahisldar filed a written complaint against with the local police, who took Ganiga into custody.

According to police, Ganiga was under depression after his wife deserted him and left him with their only child.

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Media Release
June 1,2020

As part of the Indian Overseas Congress Mera Bharat Mahaan NRI Series, a Facebook live Global Conference was facilitated by Dr Arathi Krishna, Dy. KPCC NRI Chairman and Mr. Mohammad Mansoor President IOC Bahrain on 30th May, 2020.

In the one and half hour live interaction, questions and answers were addressed by DK Shivakumar, President of PCC Karnataka and attended by hundreds of participants, accumulating an impressive 300K people viewing the live broadcast across the globe.

The event was inaugurated with a welcome address by the inspiring and innovative IOC chairman Sam Pitroda followed by the motivational speech of AICC Secretary Shri Himanshu Vyas, IOC US President Mr. Mohinder Singh Gilzian and former KPCC NRI Dy Chairman Dr. Arathi Krishna by whom Shivakumar was introduced.

The event was remarkably successful with maximum interaction of global congress family members and straight forward answers by Shivakumar. 

He emphasized on the present political issues in India and the Indian government's negligence in handling the crisis related to Covid-19 and the indefinite lockdown. He added at present, that the Congress is playing a frontline, constructive role by addressing and articulating the Covid-19 issues and offering critique-based solutions to the government as a responsible opposition party.

The insightful meeting covered the congress strategy and the rebuilding of the KPCC, as well as discussed counter corrupt and hatred politics of current regime along with the role of constructive opposition, etc.

IOC Bahrain President Mr. Mohammad Mansoor thanked IOC Chairman Sam Pitroda, AICC Secretary  Himanshu Vyas for their role in strengthening the party and motivating the team; former KPCC NRI Dy Chairman Dr. Arathi Krishna for introducing the guest; IOC global IT Cell Chairman Manoj Shinde, along with Dananjay and Vinay for professionally managing the event;  IOC US President Mohinder and  Karnataka Chapter President Gauri Shankar for emphasizing the guest of honour; Ms Sofiya Sharma and Ms Vijya Nadela for beautifully moderating the event and all the distinguished guests and Presidents of IOC and KPCC wing Leaders from Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, UAE, Germany and other countries who were present on the online meeting and especially  Mr. Althaf,  PA to DKS and Mr. A.N.Nataraj Gowda in charge of KPCC IT Cell for helping facilitatethe online meeting.

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