Mysore/Mysuru: City’s Mourya Ganapathy, a shot-putter, will be leaving for France tomorrow morning, to participate in the World School Games being held at Normandy in France from                                        May 14 to 23.

Mourya is among 239 sportsperson from across the country who will be participating in the World School Games and Mourya will be participating in Under-18 category.

A native of Virajpet in Kodagu, Mourya Ganapathy is the son of Balyanda Vijay and Machaiah, Superintendent at the GST Office and is a resident of Raghavendranagar in Mysuru. After completing his SSLC at Bhagya Jyothi School in Raghavendranagar, Mourya is currently pursuing his 2nd PUC at Trinity PU College in Vijayanagar here.

Speaking to Star of Mysore this morning, Mourya said that hard work and dedication is a must for all sportspersons and added that he practices at Chamundi Vihar Stadium from 6.30 am to 9.30 am and again from 4.30 pm to 8 pm daily besides stating that he goes for weight training to a gym.

Mourya said that he got interested in shot-put after watching his school mate and added that he began to practice shot-put at the age of 15. Mourya, who has won various prizes and medals in district and national-level, is now participating in an international event. “My dream is to participate and win a medal at the Olympic Games,” he said.

Thanking his parents, sister, friends, school and college for their support which enabled him to win medals, Mourya said that he has participated in about 50 sporting events and won prizes, with the latest event — 17th MILO National Inter-District Junior Athletic Meet — held at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh on Nov. 13, 2019. Mourya had thrown his all time best of 17.21 mts in the Under-16 category and had won a bronze medal.

During 2020-21, no sporting events were held due to COVID-19 pandemic, Mourya said and added that a Junior National event was held in February this year at Guwahati in Assam, where he came fourth.