Middle-distance runner Lili Das wants to progress on PT Usha’s pep-talk

Kolkata, May 22: Lili Das could not even think of continuing her sport a couple of years back after she was severely injured while cooking.

Severe burn on her right shoulder had forced her out of the athletics track for several months. But she has made come back.

She became the national champion in the 1500-meter run in the senior national championship, last year, and booked a berth in Indian squad for the exposure tour touring Poland.

The girl lives in a place named Bhadreswar, around two hours by train from Kolkata.

Lili's father works at Bhadreswar jute mill as one of the security staffs. He retired recently from that job.

As a matter of fact, the 19-year-old has to start working to earn their bread and butter. Poverty has been such a strong opposition that Lili and her parents couldn't even have proper meal or dinner sometimes.

The middle-distance runner from Bengal, speaking on Sunday (May 21) at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) athletics track said, “My mother makes kids garments at home, keeping herself busy with sewing machine almost whole day. I sell those garments in my locality and sometimes outside Bhadreswar roaming around throughout the morning.

"That is why it does not become easy for me to train in the morning. What I do is that after finishing the job by afternoon, I start running."

It is an obvious scenario in Bhardreswar that even after sunsets, the 19-year-old runner runs through the narrow lanes of Bhadraswar relentlessly to strengthen her endurance and technique.

Talking about Lili, her coach at the SAI centre Kalyan Chowdhury, said, “She is gritty, diligent and passionate. Otherwise fighting against such odds she could not have continued with the game."

Lili had a sigh of relief very recently as she got the opportunity to live in Kolkata SAI hostel and train at the athletics track at SAI centre.

Now she aims at donning India shirts at Tokyo Olympics in 2020 and in a bid to keep herself mentally upbeat Lili has inspirational words in her store.

She said, “In Poland, I met PT Usha and she encouraged me a lot. That is my inspiration to look forward."

OneIndia News