Despite medical issues, seven-year-old Alexandra Girls’ student wins inter-school gold in under-8 50m run at University Pavilion on Saturday
Spanishta Kasad (centre) competes in the MSSA girls' U-8 50m event at University Pavilion in Marine Lines on Saturday
Medical problems generally tend to hinder athletes, but for seven-year-old Spanishta Kasad of Alexandra Girls' Institution (Fort) it's been just the opposite.
Spanishta Kasad (centre) competes in the MSSA girls' U-8 50m event at University Pavilion in Marine Lines on Saturday. Pic/Atul Kamble
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Spanishta suffered from a severe colic problem (constant crying by infants who appear to be otherwise healthy) till the age of three, and would remain awake late into the night, leaving her mother Binaiser worried about her condition.
"We were getting worried since she (Spanishta) would simply not sleep till as late as 3am every day. Though she was a very active child, we were concerned about her health and so decided to put her into athletics. We expected her to get tired training and eventually sleep well at nights," mum Binaiser told Sunday mid-day yesterday.
The Byculla family enrolled their little one into the nearby Bombay Parsi Panchayat athletics academy and the ploy worked. Spanishta hasn't just slept well since, but also excelled in athletics.
At the YMCA athletics meet in November at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) ground in Kandivli, Spanishta set a new meet record of 8.03 seconds in the 50m run eradicating the previous mark of 8.06s.
On Saturday, she won gold in the girls' U-8 50m run at the Mumbai School Sports Association (MSSA) inter-school athletics meet at University Pavilion, Marine Lines.
This was Spanishta's maiden MSSA tournament and the gold has inspired her to work harder in future.
Hungry for more
"I'm very excited to win this medal. I will train harder and aim for more medals in the bigger age groups," she said excitedly.
Spanishta clocked 8.04s for gold, while Bhoomi Shah of Children's Academy (Kandivli) won silver clocking 8.06s and Shaivi of Children's Academy (Kandivli) finished third clocking 8.08s.