I started rhythmic gymnastics in the year 2011 when I was 10 years old. At that time rhythmic gymnastics was not such a known sport. My journey in rhythmic gymnastics began because of my mom. When I was young,I was quite flexible and my mom noticed that and she thought to put me into sports.One of our relatives contacted my mom that Maharashtra Mandal will be a good center for sports. So that's how my journey began.
We went to Maharashtra Mandal which was 13km far from where we lived and over there my mom met Mrs. Savita Marathe. She saw my flexibility and suggested to take rhythmic gymnastics as a sport. We were not at all aware of this sport but my mom just put me into it for exercising daily and out of curiosityof a new sport. I come from a non-sports background.
In the beginning, my family didn't support me in this but my mom never gave up. She used to travel 13kms everyday and would never let me miss my practice even a single day. In this way, I started my career in rhythmic gymnastics.
Mrs. Savita Marathe was my first coach. Later on, as I started achieving my family started supporting me and nowthey fully support me.
In 2016, I started to train under Miss Madhura Tambe at Alacrity Sports School,my current coach. I had to face many difficulties throughout my journey.
One of my biggest difficulty was that I'm flat-footed. The beginning of my journey started with opposition. Doctors said gymnastics will not be a good sport for me and I will face many injuries and would not exceed in this sport as I am flat foot. But just because of that I didn't stop and now I'm an international player. My parents and my coaches were my strongest pillars. I've come across a couple of injuries but I never gave up and the more I fell the stronger I grew.
At the beginning, I had not much interest in gymnastics I would just practice because my mom pushed me to. But later on, when I came under the guidance of Miss Madhura Tambe, who currently is my coach, my interest in gymnastics started to grow stronger and stronger and now it has become an inseparable part of my life. She bought the best out of me showed me the beauty of this sport. I started to believe in myself and started to set high targets. That was the period where it sank in me that I could be really good at gymnastics
I was an average student and my grades were also average before I joined gymnastics. However, when I started doing gymnastics my concentration level and grasping capacity increased tremendously and its effect reflected on my academics. Steadily my grades started to increase and I started becoming more responsible. I was able to manage both gymnastics and academics. I gave my best in both the fields. I would say that gymnastics was the reason that made my academics stronger. If you want to achieve something you can manage everything.
In 10th standard, the most stressful and important year for all the students and parents, where students study right from the beginning of the year and study and study. Well, my 10th standard year was quite fun, I didn't have time to study at all, right at the beginning of the academic year I got selected for my first international competition the World School Games, so my half-year just went without studying because of all the training camp and tournaments. Later on, I skipped my prelims because of the national championship. During that phase, I was quite nervous as l was lacking behind in academics and I could see all my peers studying very hard. But I focused on my national championship and won 2 gold and 3 silver medals. Board exams were approaching and my tension was increasing becauseI was lacking behind. Then one-full month I studied whole-heartedly and appeared for the board examination and secured 96% in 10th SSC. I was overwhelmed and there is no such thing that if a person is good at sports, he/she is weak in academics.
The same situation occurred during the 12th board examination, I missed my prelims due to Khelo India Youth Games in which I won a gold medal. Later on, just a week before the board examinations I had participated in the International Tournament Indian Cup which was held in Hyderabad and I landed Pune just 2 days prior to board examination. So basically, during my 12th standard, I had no time to study but yet I utilized my time to its maximum. I used to carry books for competitions for studying. I secured 83.9% in 12th HSC. Currently, I'm pursuing B.com. So, in this way,I have managed both my studies and gymnastics. I never sacrificed one for another.
My parents,coaches and my peers were always there for me. You just have to stay focused and determined and never that it's not possible. Many people believe that due to sports academics can go down and hence they drop sports. I would say that there's no such thing as such. U just have to stay focused and have strong will power and give your 100% devotion for what u want. And on the of all, you must have the passion of what you are doing. If you're passionate u can achieve wonders and no one will be able to stop you.
I want to rise the Indian flag on international platforms and win a medal for the country. Give my best in every competition and to perform better than yesterday is what I focus on. To participate in the Olympic Games and represent India is my goal.
Rhythmic gymnastics is an inseparable part of my life and I can't think of a day where I'm not doing gymnastics. Rhythmic gymnastics has bought colours in my life and has taught me that nothing is impossible. You just need to have patience and acceptance.
Achievements-
* World School Games, Turkey participant
* National and state champion
* Khelo India Youth games 2019 gold medalist
* Khelo India Youth Games 2020, 3 bronze medals stood all round 3rd
* 8X National medalist
* Krida Ragini puraskar awardee 2019
* Medal tally till date 145 (65 gold, 41 silver and 39 bronze) at district,state and national levels
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