A national-level para powerlifting champion, whose exploits at the 2023 Khelo India Para Games bagged him a silver medal, hopes the interest generated by his performances can help bring road access to his village, where around 30 families are residing for decades.
V. Saravanan, who bagged a silver medal in the Men’s 65-kg category in the para powerlifting event, is a resident of Gundada village in Jegathala panchayat. The village, located near Coonoor, is home to mostly daily wage labourers and plantation workers who are trying to get road access to their village for over three decades, they said.
Mr. Saravanan said he was training as a powerlifter for the last five years, and owed his success to the help and support of his neighbours. “Even when I needed to go for training, they would carry me more than 1.5 km to the nearest road, so that I could go and train,” said the 35-year-old Mr. Saravanan.
