Years of toil paid off handsomely for Treesa Jolly, a student of Brennen College, Kannur, when she climbed the victory podium twice in the just-concluded Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. The 19-year-old brought home the bronze medal in the badminton doubles and silver in the mixed team event.
Her journey started from the courtyard of her 50-year-old house at Pulingome, a village in Kannur, where she trained with her first coach — her father Jolly Mathew — who left his well-paid job as a physical education teacher in an unaided school to travel with her to tournaments.
“There was no badminton court or facilities in the village when Treesa started participating in the district under-11 category. She was just seven. In the next few years she won medals in the State and national championships. But for winning major tournaments, she required facilities to practise, especially when it rained,” recalls Mr. Mathew.
