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Rajkot (Gujarat) [भारत]July 7 (ANI): Athlete Devyani Zala on Tuesday said she will give her 100% and win a medal for India after being selected to represent India at the 20th Asian Games to be held in Nagoya, Japan, this September. Devyani, a 400-metre runner, recently booked her place in the 65th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships held at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, Odisha by clocking an impressive time of 53.26 seconds. By achieving this time, he officially surpassed the Asian Games qualification standard of 53.72 seconds.

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Speaking to ANI, Devyani said, "I will give my 100% and get a medal for India."

Journey from cricket to athletics

Devyani also recalled that she discovered athletics after participating in Gujarat's 'Khel Mahakumbh' through her school in seventh grade. She said she was initially focused on cricket and was unaware of the opportunities in athletics, but a coach noticed her sprinting talent and encouraged her to pursue the sport. "When I was in seventh grade, I participated in a competition called 'Khel Mahakumbh' in Gujarat through my school. At that time, I was not aware of the potential big achievements in athletics—like the Olympics, the Asian Games, or the Commonwealth Games. I was just running the 100-meter dash and I didn't know much about the sport. In fact, my father was then preparing me for cricket. However, everything changed one day when we were playing cricket on the field. "An athletics coach saw me sprinting and talked to my father, suggesting I take up athletics because my sprinting form was excellent," he said.

Father is confident of daughter's victory

Devyani Zala's father, Mahendra Singh Zala, said she showed consistent success in Gujarat's government sports program for five years before progressing to the under-23 level. She recalled that a coach recognized her potential when she missed a medal by a narrow margin and expressed confidence that she would win a medal for India at the Asian Games. "She was a champion for five years under the government sports program across Gujarat. Then came the Under-23 category, and she was supposed to compete in the Under-23 event in Panchkula. In her first competition there, she missed a medal by a fraction of a second. That's when she met a coach named Ajay Arjun, who told me that she had a lot of potential... Now, she has qualified for the Asian Games, which feels great. I have 100% confidence in my daughter; she is definitely Roop will bring home a medal. She is following her workout routine perfectly," he said. (ANI)