Bhawanipatna: Anita (15) of Majhenpadar village under Dharmagarh block in Kalahandi district has proved the adage ‘odds lead the way to perfection and challenges alone make one strong’ true
Anita is the daughter of Bharat Nayak and Damayanti Nayak, who eke out a living at Dharmagarh area by pulling rickshaw and working as a daily-wage labourer, respectively.
Anita now studies in Class-X at the Senior Secondary School of Sector-10 under Bhilai Nagar, Chhattisgarh. Originally from Odisha, she has represented Chhattisgarh in five national level sports competitions and won awards.
Moreover, she happens to be the captain of the Chhattisgarh sub-junior cycle polo team, who has been selected for the Association of India Awards, this year. Promoting her extra-ordinary talents, the Chhattisgarh government has awarded her several times.
She consecutively bagged gold medals and prize money of Rs 10,000 each at the national level 12th Sub-junior Girls’ Cycle Polo Championship at Ara (Bihar) in 2013-14; 13th championship at Bokaro in 2014-15; 14th championship at Vijayawada in 2015-16; 15th championship at Dundlod in 2016-17 and the 16th championship held at Ranaghat in 2017-18.
Anita continued her mission by receiving the Chief Minister’s trophy from Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghela. People from all walks of life have demanded that the Odisha government should come forward and give patronage to this budding talent.