Two Telugu sportsmen, one from Andhra Pradesh and one from Telangana, have been selected for the Union government’s esteemed National Sports Awards list. Among those who received the esteemed Arjuna Award were the two Telugu athletes.

Jivanji Deepthi, a para-athlete from Warangal district, and Jyothi Yerraji, a runner from Visakhapatnam, have both received recognition for their exceptional athletic accomplishments.

In the women’s 100-meter hurdles, Jyothi, who is in her early 20s, is presently the quickest Indian. Jyothi was born in Visakhapatnam on August 28, 1999, and like many other Indian sportsmen, both past and present, he had a modest upbringing. Her mother, Kumari, is a domestic worker who also works part-time as a cleaner at a metropolitan hospital, and her father, Suryanarayana, is a private security guard. Together, their monthly income was less than Rs 18,000 per month.

However, Jyothi was meant for greater things, and she was determined to pursue them while attending Port High School in Vizag. She was tall enough to be a hurdler, according to her physical education instructor, and there was no turning back.

She originally gained notoriety in 2015 after taking home the gold at an inter-district competition in Andhra Pradesh. She relocated to the SAI Centre in Hyderabad the next year to work with instructor N. Ramesh, a Dronacharya and Olympian. She has been winning medals at junior and senior national competitions ever since. Later on, she joined the Guntur Center of Excellence.

Jyothi relocated to the Odisha Reliance Athletics High-Performance Centre in Bhubaneswar in 2019 when the facility was unexpectedly shuttered, where she was influenced by British coach James Hillier. She won gold in the All-India Inter-University athletics competition at Moodabidri, Karnataka, in January 2020 with a time of 13.03 seconds.

With a new personal best of 12.79 seconds, the Indian hurdler won gold in the 100-meter hurdles at the National Games, capping off the 2022 season with a bang, becoming the first Indian woman to go below the 13-second barrier in her discipline. Unfortunately, the wind help throughout the run was +2.5 m/s; therefore, it did not qualify as a national record.

However, Deepthi made history in Paris 2024 by winning a bronze in the women’s 400-meter T20 class on Tuesday, making her the first Indian athlete with an intellectual disability to earn a Paralympic medal.

Following Yulia Shuliar of Ukraine and Ayser Onder of Turkey, who completed the race in 55.16 and 55.23 seconds, respectively, the 20-year-old Indian para-athlete finished in 55.82 seconds.

Athletes with intellectual disabilities are eligible to participate in the T20 class. Deepthi, the first athlete from India in her category to participate in the Paralympic Games, has cognitive issues that impair her ability to comprehend and communicate. Deepthi, who was born in a remote Telangana hamlet, had to overcome several obstacles at a young age. Because of her characteristics, the villagers advised her parents to leave her, but Deepthi’s parents supported her no matter what, even though they were struggling financially.