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
March 31,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 31: Venkara Raghava, a software engineer from Bengaluru, who was infected with the coronavirus has recovered and is currently "doing perfectly well".

"I am doing perfectly well now. I had travelled to Los Angeles via Heathrow airport and that is when I came in contact with many travellers. I might have picked up the infection there," Raghava told news agency.

It was in Los Angeles when he started getting a 'low-grade fever' which led him to prepone his flight to Bengaluru. "When I landed back in Bengaluru on March 8, I had a fever and I isolated myself. The same day I went to a hospital where my travel history was taken and I tested positive for COVID-19", he said.

The next day, he was admitted to the isolation centre. His entire family was also tested but the results came back negative.

When asked about what does suffering from COVID-19 feel like, he responded that it was a like a regular viral fever and was "nothing to be scared of". "The fever is very grinding, and since my childhood, I never had a fever. I had a fever for almost 15 days consistently 100 degrees (F)," he said.

About his experience at the isolation centre, he said that it was an experience unlike that of a hospital. "At the isolation centre, one has to take care of themselves, unlike a hospital where doctors and nurses take care of the patient. I had to put a wet cloth on myself and you cannot overdose yourself with Calpol or Paracetamol," he said.

For him, "The tough times are now over" and now he has fully recovered but in the process, he ended up losing about five kilograms. "After the fifteenth day when I woke up with no fever, they took a test for the nose and the throat and it came back negative," he recalled, and on March 22, he was set free.

For one week, he has been in self-quarantine at home "being completely watchful" that the symptoms do not reoccur.

The number of total coronavirus cases reached 1,251 on Monday. There are 1117 active cases in the country, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

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News Network
March 28,2020

Mangaluru, Mar 28: Dakshina Kannada District observed a total shutdown on Saturday with closure of all shops, barring milk booths and pharmacy, to prevent spread of deadly Coronavirus.

The Central Market, a hub of activities where vegetables, groceries, flowers are sold, remained closed. Despite the milk booths and pharmacies being exempted from the purview of bandh, only a few milk booths remained open here.

The administration decided to go far bandh ion the wake of people failing to follow the lockdown guidelines of maintaining social distance and some wandering on the streets without valid reason. Moreover, there was increase in the number of corona cases despite measures taken, Deputy Commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh said.

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News Network
January 7,2020

Mangaluru, Jan 7: The city police arrested a youth on charge of spreading messages against political leaders through WhatsApp and allegedly issuing life threats warnings against them.

The accused has been identified as Anwar, a resident of Peruvai village in Bantwal taluk of Dakshina Kannada. He was working in Qatar.

On Monday, Yathish from Vittal filed a complaint and based on that police arrested Anwar.

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