17 year old Deepti Raj is a first year B Com student at Nobel College, Bangalore.

Despite a busy schedule at college, she wakes up every morning at 4 15, and is at practice from 6:30 AM. Her dedication is hard to miss. Deepthi is a sprinter- her events are the 200m and 400m. She has been running since she was 12 years old, but has been training since earlier this year.

Deepthi comes from a family that understands the dedication towards sports. Both her parents held National records as sprinters, her elder brother pursued athletics as well. This has only spurred Deepthi to try and achieve more.

Her mother is a single parent, and is a PE teacher at a school in Bangalore. Deepthi’s father passed away in 2009, and since then, she says, life has been a little hard. Her mother and brother understand how important running is to her- and support her completely.

She has repaid their confidence by winning a bronze at the District meet in November this year- and is headed towards the State meet in December. Deepthi’s main event is the 400 m run, like her idol- coach Bindu Rani.

“I want to beat her record of 58 seconds for the 400m race”, she says confidently. Currently her timing is at 59 seconds, but she’s hopeful that after training she can meet her goal.

“She is a champion in the making” says Bindu- Deepthi’s coach. “In two years, she will be at the National level.”

However, Deepthi now needs your support. Sports are expensive to pursue. Her nutritional requirements cost 4000 rupees a month, and spike shoes (a must for a sprinter) have to be replaced once in 3 months. Currently Deepthi is looking towards heading for Nationals next year. However, her long term goals are to aim for the Asian Commonwealth Games in 2019. She is confident that she can get there- with a bit of help.