Dubai: Harshini Balaji is just seven years old but her accomplishment as a long distance runner will astound you. The Grade 3 girl has already run in more than 30 junior marathons in the UAE.
Though she is too young to understand the intricacies of participating in the Olympics, she said, “I want to run in the Olympics,” when asked about her ultimate dream.
Agreed, it’s a far-fetched dream but her efforts to pursue it at this young age is praiseworthy. She diligently trains at a club near her house in Sharjah immediately after returning from her school.
“I want to grow up to become a professional athlete,” says Harshini, who is studying at Our Own English High School for Girls, Sharjah. “I love running and I feel happy when I run at competitions and win them.”
Fair share
Harshini has had a fair share of success so far, claiming five top finishes in events where girls much older than her participated. Last week she won the third place in the Fatima Bin Mubarak Ladies Academy run in Abu Dhabi in the 7- to 11-year-old age category.
“At most of the events she is one of the youngest competitors. What’s important is that she finishes the race. At Zayed Sports City last year she competed in three races despite having not qualified due to age criteria. The organisers gave her special permission and she finished an impressive seventh, sixth and eighth. She was given a special memento for being the youngest participant,” said her proud father Balaji Sundararajan.
It was at the age of five that Balaji and his wife Sujatha Balaji identified the talent in their daughter after watching a sports CD from one of the events at her school.
“She showed a lot of eagerness in the races in school so I began taking her for runs with me before we enrolled her into a professional academy called Ultimate Athletics headed by Lisa Campbell. There she trained for two seasons just to get a hang of how the training works,” said Balaji.
Harshini does not relax during her weekends and is busy working on her endurance, either cycling or swimming.
“Now the focus is to build her stamina. So we have planned a diet and special fitness excercises that can further improve her endurance,” said Balaji.
Like all kids her age Harshini is quick to grab her iPad to watch her favourite cartoons everytime she gets a break from her training.
