Udupi: Rural Surroundings of Akkunje Scripted Ashwini's Success

News & Pics: Aishwarya Beejadi
Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (RD/SB) 

Udupi, Nov 30: Ashwini Shetty, who brought laurels to the country winning individual gold medal in 400 m hurdles at the just-concluded Asian Games is from a remote village of Akkunje in Kundapur taluk of the district. She was noticed on a global platform when she won gold in girls' relay team in Commonwealth Games (CWG) held recently. Her marvelous achievements have indeed brought honour to the neighbourhood of Akkunje.

Akkunje hit the limelight when she bagged gold medal on international arena. She did her early studies in Hosangady School, near here, after which she pursued athletics in Bangalore. Now it is not only her native Akkunje, but the entire nation that is celebrating her achievement.

Akkunje lies 40 km from Kundapur taluk. If one takes a right turn at Jansal and walks in the woods for about a kilometre, one comes across Ashwini’s house. Her father Chidanand Shetty is a native of Mulematapady in Puttur taluk of Dakshina Kannada district, while her mother Yashodha is a native of Akkunje and owns farmland. Ashwini thus hails from a middle class agriculturist family. 

Ashwini is the last among the couple's three children. Chidanand Shetty settled down in Akkunje 15 years ago, in accordance to Bunts families’ ancestral hierarchy. The family has nearly five acres of farmland, where they cultivate paddy and areca, palm plantations and live modestly.  

Chidanand and Yashoda’s son Amit is settled in Bangalore and is into real estate business, while their elder daughter Dipti is serving as a lecturer in Shankaranarayana Government First Grade College.

Though sports runs in her family as her grandfather Subbanna Shetty was an ace swimmer and uncles were also locally famed in sports; the achievement of Ashwini has indeed surprised the family and relatives. Ashwini’s athletic skills were first identified during her early studies at Hosangady KPC English Medium School, who was referred for further training in Bangalore by youth service and sports department. 

She was fortunate to get ace coach Manjunath who enrolled her at Tata Academy in Jamshedpur, north India, where she excelled and brought laurels to India by competing in athletic meets in Malaysia, Vietnam, Ukraine, Iran, and Beijing in China. 

She was trained at Sports Authority of India, Patiala where she bagged first place in 400 meters hurdles during the athletic meet held in Tiruvanantapuram and qualified to compete in CWG.

Akkunje and Ashwini, the Synonyms

If it’s Deepika's gold medal win in national pole vault competitions that brought fame to Amapar village that lies on the other side of Akkunje, it is Ashwini’s marvelous feat that has set an example to others of the fact that strong determination to succeed in any situation brings rewards. Nearly 400 families of diverse culture and religions live in Akkunje and are jubilant about Ashwini's achievement. 

While rough terrain helped twenty-three-year-old Ashwini to improve her running skills since her childhood, the family support has gone into her shaping as an international athlete with due encouragement from her coach.