One of the proudest moments for any country is when it wins medals in international sports competitions. Recently, India had the honour of experiencing such a moment of pride when a girl from Goa was able to win not one or two, but four medals at the World Games of 2023’s Special Olympics. However, what makes her victory even more inspiring and perhaps even a bit vindicating is that she was first denied a visa!
Goa Girl Wins 2 Gold Medals At World Games
Athlete Miss. Siya Sarode and Miss. Taniya Ulhas Usgaonkar did #Goa and #India proud as they shared five medals in Powerlifting and Roller-Skating at the ongoing #SpecialOlympicsWorldGames2023 being held in #Berlin. pic.twitter.com/QAHec0CfOx
— DIP Goa (@dip_goa) June 21, 2023
Winning medals in any international competition is a huge deal for any country. India was recently made proud at the 2023 Special Olympics World Games by this little girl named Siya Sarode from Goa. At the tender age of 15, she has managed to bag four medals.
Two of these four medals were gold. These were for the categories of deadlifts and squats. She also managed to bag a silver medal in a combined category and a bronze medal in bench press. Just listing out these physically intensive tasks is making us exhausted!
However, what makes her victories even more vindicating is that she was initially refused the visa required for travelling to the game. This year, Berlin hosted the World Games and the Schengen Visa required to travel to Germany was refused to Siya Sarode.
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Why Was She Refused A Visa?
Siya Sarode, our phenomenal powerlifter, showed an outstanding performance in the 57kg weight category at the Powerlifting Championships.
Siya’s achievements speak volumes: a GOLD medal in Squat, a BRONZE medal in Bench Press, SILVER medals in Deadlift, & Combined Event! 🥇🥉🥈 pic.twitter.com/2IQhUqqvqD
— Special Olympics Bharat (@SOlympicsBharat) June 22, 2023
Siya Sarode is a student at Sanjay Centre for Special Education in Curchorem. Unfortunately, her mother passed away when she was young and her father has been missing for quite some time now. Hence, when it came time to provide legal guardian documents, she didn’t have them.
However, the Chief Minister’s Office intervened and she was able to quickly get her hands on the documents. She, therefore, got her visa just in the nick of time and managed to fly to Berlin for the games. There, she once and for all proved what an asset she is to the country.
Which Indian victory in the Olympics has stuck with you the most? Let us know in the comments below!
Cover Image Credits: @dip_goa/Twitter