Nagidi Gayatri, from the fishing community in Andhra Pradesh, defies odds to win a medal in the Khelo India Youth Games

Nagidi Gayatri, who belongs to the fishing community of Nagayalanka village in Andhra Pradesh, bagged a silver medal in the recently-held fifth Khelo India Youth Games in slalom canoeing

The sun beats down on Nagayalanka near Vijayawada. A blinding light spreads across the backwaters toward a blue canoe moving in the waters, estimating the path of currents. Tightening the grip on the paddle, Nagidi Gayatri lands into an explosion of sound and water, negotiating her way upstream against the water current. For the next 30 minutes, she practices with a steadfast dedication.

The 18-year-old, who belongs to the fishing community from Nagayalanka village of Krishna district, Andhra Pradesh, bagged a silver medal for in the recently-held fifth Khelo India Youth Games in slalom canoeing conducted in Maheshwar in Madhya Pradesh. The Khelo India programme, an initiative of the Government of India, was introduced to revive sports culture at the grassroots level by building a strong framework for sports in the country. In its fifth edition,over 5,000 athletes from across the country converged at Madhya Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh bagged 10 medals, out of which two were from slalom canoeing. This is the first time that five people participated in the slalom canoeing category from Andhra Pradesh.

Gayatri’s dream is to participate in the Asian Games and win a medal for the country. “I want to win a medal for my country in the Olympics one day. I know it is not an easy journey, but I will work hard for it,” she says. Inching towards the dream, she attended the camp held in Maheswar of Madya Pradesh in canoe slalom for selections for the Asian Games to be held in China in September in 2023.

“Everyone in my family has been encouraging me to excel in sports,” says Gayatr. As a child, she started rowing a canoe to help her fisherman father. Her sporting career, however, began with taekwondo when she was in class VIII, which took her to the 33rd National Games where she won a bronze medal. But soon her affinity towards watersports took precedence over taekwondo and she joined the watersports academy in Nagayalanka. Within no time, she excelled in the sport with the experience she had in fishing and rafting with her father. Gayathri did her schooling at ZP High School in Nagayalanka and completed her Diploma in Veterinary Science in Vizianagaram.

Gayathri’s strong arms and endurance, work in her favour. “It is not easy to make a mark at the national level, especially with no exposure in competitive watersports and its technicalities. This is a big achievement for Gayathri as well as for the State,” says Balaram Naidu, president of Andhra Pradesh State Kayaking and Canoeing Association.

Kayaking, canoeing and rowing together amount to 75 medals in the Olympics and Paralympics. “If we can provide training to the young talent in these disciplines, India’s medal haul in the Olympics can go up significantly. But one of the major challenges is lack of equipment, which is very expensive. Also, Andhra Pradesh needs to ease the process of procuring permissions for conducting competitive watersports training to make it viable,” he adds.

Gayathri is presently being coached under T Nagababu and M Srinu. She participated in 36th National Selections in Canoe Slalom sport K1 held in Uttarakhand and got an opportunity to participate in 36th National Games. However, due to the lack of proper training equipment in the State, Gayatri was sent to Madhya Pradesh under the State Kayaking and Canoeing Association and trained by Indian coach Kuldeep Handoo for the tournament.