Despite doing intense workouts, Deepthi Jeevanji would never voice any complaints. At that point, Nagpuri Ramesh, the athletics coach, realized something wasn't right.
She refused to say anything. She must be in excruciating pain from her intense training, yet she was unable to communicate it. They would tire out other trainees if they were exhausted themselves. Deepthi would remain silent. "It wasn't typical," Dutee Chand's coach Ramesh remarks. When Ramesh visited Deepthi in 2016 at the National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Intellectual Disabilities in Secunderabad, he discovered that she had extremely low IQ. She had a mental disability. After that, Deepthi entered the parasport competition scene and hasn't stopped.
She set a world record on Monday at the World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, winning the 400-meter sprint (T20) in 55.07 seconds. It also aided in her Paralympic qualification in Paris. At the global para championships, Deepthi became the first Indian to win a gold medal in track. Ramesh requested that Deepthi's parents send her to Hyderabad for training after being enthralled with her athletic prowess on their first meeting. The parents, who worked for a daily income, had financial difficulties. They had never considered sending their daughter to train in a sports discipline. The family is from 150 miles away from Hyderabad in the Telangana village of Kalleda.
"I asked her parents to drop her off at our SAI hostel in Hyderabad, where we will train her. The parents said they had no money and were in extreme poverty. Ramesh continues, "I then instructed them to load her onto the bus, and we'll handle the rest. Ramesh discovered that she was slow to follow directions and spoke to her parents during training. "Her parents claimed she had been that way from the beginning. She once fell off a building, but Ramesh claims she was unable to cry out.
As Deepthi rose to prominence, her family's circumstances also changed. After being made fun of by their neighbors, her parents are now quite proud. "Her parents sobbed following her accomplishment at the Asian Games. They claimed that they would hear rumors about her in the hamlet every day, that a crazy girl like her would never marry. Following Hangzhou, the family received a constant stream of congratulations from well-known officials and politicians at their home. "They said, 'Our life has changed, sir.'"
The parents of Deepthi were able to repurchase a small plot of land that they had to sell a few years prior and are currently engaged in farming thanks to the financial rewards Deepthi got. She has now taken things a step further. Paris is on the horizon.
