Representing Tamil Nadu in the National Yoga Olympiad, two government school kids went on to win the gold medals for the state. National Yoga Olympiad 2019 was organised by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), under the aegis of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) at New Delhi from June 18 to 20.
Abarna Sree and Janarthanan from Karur representing Tamil Nadu participated and fetched gold medals. Abarna Sree aged 13, daughter of Senthil Murugan hails from Devanatham village of Kulithalai. Abarna is pursuing her Class IX in Kulithalai Government Girls Higher Secondary School in Karur.
Janarthanan aged 15, son Arunachalam is from Vengamedi, Karur. Janarthanan is pursuing Class X in the Morning Star Government Aided High school in Karur. Since the launch of the National Yoga Olympiad, Tamil Nadu has grabbed gold for the first time. Both of them won gold in under 17 categories for boys and girls separately.
The student coordinator, Baskaran told Express, "It gives us immense pleasure and delight as the victory for Tamil Nadu has come after ages. While class VI, VII and VIII students take part in the under 14 category, class IX and X students take part in the under 17 category. Out of the 280 plus students who participated from across the country representing their states, our students Janarthanan and Abarna Sree won the first place grabbing the gold medals in both boys and girls under 17 categories."
"While Tamil Nadu got gold receiving the first place, Gujarat won the Silver and West Bengal was awarded bronze in the National tournament. The children had earlier won in several competitions in the district level which fetched them an opportunity to attend the state selection meet which took place in Namakkal district last month. After being stunned by our students' performance, the selectors picked them to represent Tamil Nadu on June 15th last month. Within the next few days they went to Delhi and came back with Gold," he added. The kids also revealed that they wish to represent the country in international tournaments in the near future.