E. Vijayalakshmi, Sports Star!
Vijayalakshmi is our sports star! At 18, she has won many tournaments and medals in various sports, including badminton, volleyball and hockey. She came to Satya Special School after Class 8 in a mainstream school. Since then, she has shown a lot of interest in sports.
Vijayalakshmi, the third child and only daughter of the couple, used to play badminton with her now-deceased brother and father. “At that time, we did not know she would take it up so seriously,’ says Kumari.
Vijayalakshmi’s crowning glory came at the Thailand Special Olympics- Asia Pacific Unified Badminton Championship 2019, when she won the gold medal!
“We were scared to send her so far away, but the school and her sports coach encouraged us and we are happy that they took good care of her,” says Kumari.
Her mother, E. Kumari, credits Vijaya Lakshmi’s success to our PE teacher, P. Arun.
Arun says that he can see a great change in Vijaya Lakshmi since the time he started coaching her.
“Initially, when we were in school, she wouldn’t mingle with the other kids. We went to Gujarat for the first time in 2016. On the train ride back is when I started seeing a change in her. She was communicating with others and having a lot of fun,” he says.
Her medals have come fast and furious, and her parents don’t have space to display all her accomplishments. Sports, as Arun says, is a great leveller, and a major means of inclusion. When Vijaya Lakshmi went to Thailand, it was as part of an inclusive sports team.
“Playing with others, achieving so much gives our children a great boost of confidence,” he says.
“We used to worry about her, what would happen to her after us, but now, we are confident that she has enough skills to survive,” she adds.
Her father, Ezhumalai, is retired, and was a security guard at a government office.