R B Jagadish
Daijiworld Media Network - Karkala (SP)
Karkala, Jun 29: Mallika Shetty had to fight penury when young. But her single-minded devotion and never-dying spirits have enabled her to achieve great feats in the fields of sports as well as education. Mallika, an international level volleyball player, has bagged employment in railways now because of her achievements in the field of sports.
Mallika, the lone player from Karnataka in the national team, is also captaining the Indian team at the international tournament being held from June 24 to July 1 at Seychelles in South Africa.
Mallika, eldest of the children of the late Vikas Shetty and Sumathi Shetty couple from Mudralu in Mudar, Karkala, studied in the government primary school, Bajagoly. She faced the prospects of having to cut short her educational ambitions subsequent to the sudden demise of her father, but continued in school with the support extended by physical education teacher of school, Umesh, president of school development and monitoring committee (SDMC), Ravindra Shetty, retired teacher, Sriranga Joshi, and others. These persons personally visited her houses, held discussions with her family members, and convinced them of the need to educate Mallika further. Mallika had by then made a mark by earning a name for herself at the state level in sports activities like Kabaddi, volleyball, high jump, shot put, discus throw, etc, at the same time doing well in studies too.
With the cooperation and support of volleyball trainer, Prem Kumar, she joined the sports school at Vidyanagar Bengaluru in 2007. After studying there for three years, she continued education at Teresian College Mysuru, where she secured her degree in commerce last year.
Since 2008, Mallika has been participating in various sports meets including in states like Punjab, Odisha, Rajastan, Uttar Pradesh and others, and bagged five gold medals, three silver medals, and six bronze medals. She also had earned several accolades and prizes by participating in different sports events including rural Dasara tournament.
Sports coatch from Masur, Ashok, happens to be her trainer. Mallika has risen to be an international left hand volleyball player. She had captained Karnataka team in the national meet held at Kerala this February. She also was the leader of the state team in the national volleyball championship held at Chennai.
Mallika had to walk six km of muddy road to reach the primary school at Bajagoly. Untimely death of her father when she was young, had threatened her future education. She is draws support from siblings, younger sister, Sarika Shetty, and younger brothers, Anil and Sunil. Her aspirations also have the strong backing of her maternal uncles, Padmanabha Shetty, Prabhakar Shetty, Sridhar Shetty, Karunakar Shetty, Suresh Shetty, and Rajesh Shetty.
Mallika has always been known to be a gentle girl with very few words. Ravindra Shetty, president of Bajagoly school SDMC, feels that rural talents, which remain hidden, need support to come up and excel. He sights Mallika and Akshata Shetty examples for those who have done great things after getting support. Umesh, physical education teacher at Bajagoly, feels that it is the duty of teachers to identify hidden talents of students and help them to bloom.
Her mother, Sumathi Shetty, is extremely happy that Mallika continued to scale new heights in life in spite of critical situation faced by the family subsequent to the death of her father. She says she is proud that her daughter has become captain of Indian team.