Polio-affected seeks aid to live his weightlifting dream

VIZIANAGARAM: Challa Ramu’s gym at Kondavelagada village in Nellimarla mandal is a one-stop training centre for weightlifting aspirants. The polio-affected 45-year-old man established his gym in a small shed to train three athletes in 2004. Six weightlifters from Ramu’s gym have represented India at various international events, including the Commonwealth Games.

The latest is S Gurunaidu (17), the country’s first weightlifter to win a gold at the IWF Youth World Championships in Mexico. Unaffected by his physical disability, he has been working out since childhood. He dreamt of seeing his sister, Challa Annapoorna, as a world-class weightlifter. He used to accompany Annapoorna for training under coach Sharma between 1994-96, during which he learnt a few techniques himself.

Ramu opened a gym on 80 cents at Kondavelagada to provide additional training to his sister. She became a national weightlifting champion in 1996, but died in an unfortunate incident in 1997. Depressed, the trainer shut his gym. After several parents requested him to train their children, Ramu re-launched his gym in 2004. He currently has 70 trainees.

“I dream of sending as many athletes as I can to the Olympics. If the government will support me, I will train more students,” Ramu told TNIE. “K Venkatalakshmi was the first trainee to win a medal in 2007. Later, several others won many medals.

Ramu said he has been operating the gym with donations from people. “I train students free of cost and have been living my dream through them.”He has mentored several national and international weightlifters, including S Pallavi, Aswani, Chaitanyakumari, R Bhavani, Gowribabu and others. At least 15 of his trainees have secured government jobs under the sports quota.Ramu has been taking care of the diet of athletes from poor families also.