It has not yet sunk in

PUNE, April 7: Twenty year old Satyajit Haibatrao Shinde was absolutely thrilled when he received the news of being included in the list of this year’s Shiv Chhatrapati awardees.

Taking up Mallakhamb at a young age of six, he has been involved with the sport for 14 years now. He practiced daily at the Maharashtra Mandal under the guidance of coach Jitendra Khare. Residing at Narayan Peth, and a past student of NMV High School, Satyajit is presently doing his TYBCom from Garware College. “The news has not yet sunk in, I just cannot believe it” said he, while speaking to The Indian Express. His family members too are equally stunned. Coming from a family of sportspersons, Satyajit is the first in his family to receive such a great honour. His father, who passed away a few years back was a kabbadi player, while both his sisters are national Kho Kho players who have represented the state.

Incidently Satyajit, now the pride of Pune, is the youngest Mallakhamb exponent ever to receive this award. Some of his greatest achievements include winning the gold medal continuously for three years in 1992, 1993, 1994 in the open category for the Bombay Mayor’s Trophy. He won five gold medals in the Mallakhamb Nationals in 1993-94 held at the Samarth Mandir, Shivaji Park. The Maharashtra government has felicitated him on three occasions.

As for his future plans, Satyajit would like to retire from active competition and take up coaching fore the benefit of young talent. Besides this, he is also keen to popularise the sport which has dwindled considerably in the past years.