Munita Prajapati had all eyes on her in the fourth day of the junior nationals in Guwahati, as she set a new national record in the 10,000m race walk. The Varanasi-bred 19-year-old athlete broke Reshma Patel’s record (48:25.90s) which was made just last month at the Junior Federation Cup in Bhopal, by clocking 47:53.58s.
With this achievement, she also became the first woman walker to clock a sub-48 minute time in the 10,000m race walk in the under 20 category. Munita, the daughter of a construction worker and a homemaker, reportedly took up athletics at the insistence of her elder sister who saw this as an opportunity to secure a government job under sports quota.
“My sister wasn’t an athlete but she said this was the only way I could get out of the village and do something. I knew I had to do something to ensure my family’s struggles get over. Both my parents have sacrificed a lot for me and it’s my dream to secure a better future for them,” Munita told The Indian Express.
Photo credit:Instagram/Department of Sports, MYAS
Munita’s father met with an accident in 2010 at a construction site and had to stay off work for the following three years. “They had to amputate a toe on one leg and a few toes from the other. He couldn’t work for another three years. Things were looking very bleak then. My sister told me why don’t you try sports, you could eventually gent a stable job and help the family,” Munita, who was 10 back then, further told the news portal.
“When I left home, the villagers warned my family against it. They said things like ‘the girl child should not stay away from home’ and what not. But my mother told them ‘my daughter will make it big someday and that will happen only if she leaves home’,” Munita said.
The teen race walker has been coached by coach Nirbhay, an army man, who has trained various youngsters in her village. She dreams of competing at the Olympics one day.