JOIN USDaily wage workers' son rattles his way to bronze in fencing at Khelo India Games
"Volleyball will always be my first love,” said Sachin R Kammaragodu, a fencer from the village of Gonibeedu in Mudigere taluka of Chikamagalur district.
It was in 2016 when a 13-year-old Sachin was picked from his school to undergo selections for the Department of Youth and Sports hostel.
After the initial trials, the youngster’s first choice of sport took a different turn when he was selected and sent to the Santhemaranahalli archery and fencing sports school in Chamarajanagar district.
DYES coach Lohith Vijay, a former international fencer from Karnataka, who was scouting for students felt Sachin’s height and good footwork would help him flourish as a fencer.
For Sachin, son of daily wage workers in coffee plantations, everything - from the gear, equipment and the feeling of competing in an individual sport - was new. Later, explaining the sport he had chosen to his friends and family was even tougher.
However, five years on, at the Khelo India University Games, the 19-year-old proved his coach right by defeating not just experienced competitors but the eventual gold medallist, C Jetlee, in the league stages en route his bronze medal in the men’s individual epee event on Friday.
“I couldn’t prepare well for the Games and managed to practice only for a week because I was down with typhoid and had exams right after,” said the second year BA student at the Government First Grade College, Kuderu. Sachin is representing University of Mysore at the KIUG.
“With little practice, I’m happy to finish with a medal. The quality of the competition is really high as the opponent I lost to is an international medallist.
“I will assess the mistakes I made today and work on correcting them to do better in furture,” he added after losing 15-10 to Shubham of Guru Nanak Dev University in the semifinals.
If his razor sharp agility is the surprise element in his game, it’s the teenager’s calm personality that separates him from the rest.
In this form of combat sport, where most fencers yelling and pumping fists after every point is a common sight, Sachin rarely let out emotions in a hall which otherwise echoed theatrics throughout the day.
“I only shout after winning a match to save energy and stay composed. My opponents letting out emotions does not affect me during a match. I, in fact, convert that to my advantage by getting motivated,” he said.
His coach Vijay though hopes the bronze has made enough noise to catch the eye of the authorities to support the fencer in achieving bigger goals and more importantly in providing a job.