24-06-2021
Shazneen Mistry
www.mediaeyenews.com
Karnam Malleswari, the first Indian Women to win a medal in the Olympics has been appointed as the First Female Vice-Chancellor of Delhi Sports University, by the Delhi government.
She is a retired weightlifter, who has won a bronze medal at 2000 Sydney Olympics. Before the Olympics, in 1994, she received the Arjuna Award, in 1995, she received the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna- India’s highest sporting honor, and in 1999, she received the civilian Padma Shri award.
She is the first and only Indian woman weightlifter to win an Olympic medal. She has even won two gold medals and two silver medals in World Championships held in 1993, 1994, 1995, and 1996. She, later on, announced her retirement in 2004 after failing to win a medal at the Athens Olympics.
Malleswari was born in a Karnam family, in Andhra Pradesh and has four sisters who are all well trained in weightlifting. She started her career when she was 12 years old and was trained under coach Neelamshetty Appanna.
Later on, they shifted to Delhi and there she was spotted by the Sports Authority of India. In 1990, Malleswari joined the national camp and four years later, she was a world championship winner in the 54-kg class.
In one of her interviews, she said that "We should start visiting schools…identify students and match their athletic skills to the sports they are apt for,". Apart from being the VC, Malleswari also runs the Karnam Malleswari Academy for weightlifting in Haryana, to provide better training to those interested in this sport.
We wish Mrs.Karnam Malleswari ma’am the best in her new role as the vice-chancellor and hope that she does great work for the betterment of all the students, faculty, and staff of the university. We can’t wait to meet more great players as herself who are a great sportsperson and would represent India in many sports one day.
