During the build-up to the Asian Champions Trophy hockey tournament here, print and online media portals were replete with feature stories on the rise of S Karthi, the 21-year-old striker from Tamil Nadu.
In fact, a day or two prior to the tournament, when Karthi came for practice there was a clamour for interviews from Tamil television channels. Rightly so.
The star from Ariyalur was playing his first International in his home State and everybody wanted a piece of him.
For Karthi, the journey to fame hasn’t been a bed of roses.
More than his career trajectory, his parents’ has been tough, to say the least. Selvam and S. Valarmathi, father and mother of Karthi, recalled how much they had to sacrifice for their son’s sporting career to take off.
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Valarmathi works as a maid while Selvam is employed as a watchman at the Government Arts College in Ariyalur.
Speaking to Sportstar, Valarmathi said: “We need to work every day to have food at home. That was the situation in our family. We come from the lower strata of society. Karthi wanted to play hockey and we are happy to have helped him. Lots of coaches at YMCA have helped him financially and taught him hockey. He needs to play more for India. I know he will do it. I have high hopes for him.”
On his nature, mother said: “He is calm and a quiet person. He will not create problems. The only problem if you can say so is that he doesn’t talk often. He is very disciplined.”
“We have come a long way because of what all our son has achieved and it makes us very proud of him,” she added.
Selvam said, ”I want him to keep contributing to the Indian team.”
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