The daughter of daily wage workers from Kalleda in Warangal, Deepthi Jeevanji, accomplished an amazing feat on Monday in the World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan. She couldn’t even afford a bus ticket to Hyderabad for training just a few years ago. With a time of 55.07 seconds, she won gold in the women’s 400-meter T20 event, smashing the previous record. This beat the previous mark of 55.12 seconds, which was achieved in 2023 in Paris during the World Championships by American Breanna Clark.
Deepthi got out to a great start, leading the opening 200 metres of the race. Deepthi made a desperate drive in the final five metres to win, even though Clark got closer. Aysel Onder of Turkey placed second with 55.19 seconds, and Lizanshela Angulo of Ecuador took third place with 56.68 seconds. Athletes with intellectual disability fall under the T20 division.
Coach Pullela Gopichand’s athletic talent search programme, the Gopichand-Mytrah Foundation, has played a part in Deepthi’s achievement.