Coimbatore artist carves Gomathi Marimuthu's miniature in gold

A Coimbatore goldsmith created a gold miniature of Gomathi Marimuthu, as a tribute to the athlete. After witnessing her performance in the Asian Athletics Championship, UMT Raja made the miniature using 1mg gold within a day. "The miniature as light as an onion peel and it floats on water. I made it because Gomathi made our country and the state proud. She attained all this despite severe poverty," said Raja

He and his friends will handover the miniature, along with some money to Gomathi soon. "We are going to meet her in person and motivate her to win in 2020 Tokyo Olympics," he said. Previously, he had created an artistic piece with over 300 matchsticks titled Veera Vanakkam (brave salute) by paying homage to CRPF personnel who were killed in Pulwama terror attack. He'd also carved the images of 10 freedom fighters on a piece of bamboo to make the younger generation aware of the leaders of the country as part of Independence day in 2016.

Raja also created Mahatma Gandhi's portrait using sand on Chennai's Marina beach and miniatures during Jallikattu protest.