Karanam Malleswari to start weightlifting academies in Haryana and Andhra Pradesh

GUNTUR: Olympic medal winner Karanam Malleswari said  she would launch a weightlifting academy in the coming days to train weightlifters win medals in the 2024 Olympics. She attended the valedictory of Vignan Mahotsav at  Vignan University at Vadlamudi on Saturday. Addressing the media, she said she has decided to start two weightlifting academies, one in Haryana and another in Srikakulam in AP. She said the government was trying to promote sports but failing to do it in rural areas.

She said that already 49 youngsters were selected for training in weightlifting from Srikakulam, Vizianagaram and Vishakapatnam districts. She urged the private educational institutions to provide free education to sportspersons to promote sports. Addressing the students, she said: “Girls are powerful beings and so should not fear about the hurdles in reaching their goals. Girls in AP are psychologically and physically strong and have the ability to  achieve anything,” she said.

Speaking about her sacrifices, she said that she never went to a film theatre to watch a movies or to any restaurant during her career. She said that she used to practise for 12 hours a day to win the world weightlifting competition. She suggested that students should play sports for at least one hour every day,  besides pursuing academics to become physically and psychologically strong. VU vice-president Lavu Srikrishna Devarayalu said the varsity is promoting girl students in sports and added 21 women volleyball teams participated in the volleyball competition.