Philanthropist Carvalho comes to Indira’s rescue

Mysore: The public may slowly be forgetting the times of Joaquim Carvalho as the chief hockey coach but for this middle distance runner from Chikmagalur, the Mumbaikar is the saviour who helps to continue with her passion __ athletics.

“Sir had called up to convey his best wishes before the start of the meet. He asked me to focus on the event,” said 19-yearold Indira BE, who had to battle the odds to make it big.

Indira, who won the silver medal in 1500m (girls u-20), caught the eye of the former coach after she began training under Dr YS Lakshmi at the Sports Authority of India, South Centre in Kengeri in 2006 after a stint under Manjunath BG at the Vidyanagar sports hostel.

“My father, who was a poor farmer, passed away and but for Carvalho sir’s help it would have been difficult for me,” she said after finishing second behind Kerala’s Bindhu SR on Friday. Indira’s time of 4 minutes, 51.69 seconds was below her personal best of 4:46 which she touched last year at the Junior nationals in Vijayawada.

On Saturday, Indira ran a spirited last lap that gave Karnataka a silver in 4x400m relay (girls u-20).

“Whenever I need money he is ready to help. Carvalho sir also sends money for my training purposes regularly,” said the wiry girl, who is doing her second year PUC from the Bangalore University through distance education.

To make ends meet and to carry on with the sport and studies, Indira takes part in cross country races which offers prize money. And her biggest pay cheque came from the recent Dasara sports meet which was held at the same venue last month.

“I got Rs 5,000 for winning the 800m race and Rs 3,000 for finishing second in the 1,500m race at the Dasara sports festival,” she said.