Transcript

Hi, my name is Ritika Choudhury. I practice rhythmic gymnastics. It is a part of gymnastics. There are four types of gymnastics artistic, rhythmic, acrobatic and aerobics. And rhythmic gymnastics is the only woman oriented Olympic recognised sport. How I came to this sport is very interesting. My father is a former gymnast and my family was somehow involved in gymnastics initially. I was 12 years old when my when my father took me to the gymnastic hall, I was stunned to see the apparatus. People performing, coaches training the gymnasts. And that is how it came to my mind to become a gymnast. My journey started when I was 12 years old, after one year of rigorous practice. I just gained a injury, a back injury, which led for one year bed rest for me. That was one of the most crucial part of my gymnastic career. It was quite depressing for me and my parents, because they wanted me to become a gymnast. After one year, I went back to the hall. I went back to the practice, and that’s how my journey started. At first, I won the district championship. It was a gold for me. I went to the state level competition. Initially, I did not get a state medal, but now, as of now, I’m a state medalist and a national gymnast. And I am still practicing to represent my country in the international platform. I belong from a small town, which is in West Bengal, border in Jharkhand. I just go to Kolkata once a week for two days, staying there, practicing day and night. It’s not easy for me. Practicing with the state- level champions there, with the sometimes national champions, international gymnast, comes there for our initial training. During my injury period in 2012, when I was sitting in the home all day, I used to see my compatriots, my friends, my gymnastic friends performing in the state, national levels. I used to be a little depressed from that because somehow I wanted to be a part of that team. I wanted to represent my state in the nationals and so on. After a leap of one year, I just talked to my father, I just want to go back to the gymnastics. I want to practice all day and night and just represent my state in the nationals and international levels. During my initial period of gymnastics, I used to be a little overweight, and that was the reason I did not get the much attention I needed from my coaches, which is much fair, I think, because I did not perform that well. So I think that was somehow fair. And I fought it. I lost my weight. And that’s when my father started coaching me. And it was nonstop practice day and night, like three hours in the morning, three hours in the evening, and just day and night practicing. Somehow I lost 6 to 7 kg for that. And after that, I felt confident during my practice, during my performance in the competitions. My father is my personal coach, and he accompanies me in every competitions right from the beginning till now. But now, as of now, Swarnali Chakravorty, the head coach of West Bengal, is my current head coach now. She trains me in the week, two days I train there. I belong from a small town and it falls under Bardhaman District. Our secretary of our district was Sir Tapan Ojha. He is like a mentor to me. He was also a coach of my father when he was in his gymnastic days. I was 4-5 years into gymnastics. He then said, just remember my words and mark my words. Ten years after, people should remember you that there is a girl from Bardhaman who will clinch 2-3 medals in each competition. Just remember my words. I think my idol, Margarita Mamun. She’s from Russia. She’s also an Olympic all-round champion, and she’s also a Bengali. Her initial hometown is Bangladesh. I want to become like her and make my country proud.