Surat: A nonagenarian player has added glory to Surat by winning two gold medals. The 92-year-old retired bank officer Haresh Desai has won gold medals in hammer throw and 100 metres race and a silver medal in shot put in the third National Masters Athletics Championship 2021 held at Varanasi.
While people of his age deal with ailments but as a sportsman, he is a great inspiration to others. Haresh Desai had played interstate badminton, hockey, volleyball since his college days. Desai represented India at Asian Masters Championship in Malaysia in 2010 and got third place in the hammer throw.
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Desai has participated in state-level competitions and national competitions. In the year 2012, in the event of the hammer throw, he bagged the third position and in the national competition in 2016-17, he bagged the first position. This competition is held in the age group of every 5 years above 35 years, which is called competition for senior citizens. The most recent competition was held in Banaras, in which he was the winner in the shot put, hammer throw and 100 metres.
The veteran player Haresh Desai said, "The National Masters Athletics Championship held in Banaras was organised for people above the age of 90 in which six people across the country were in this category." Desai, who exercises daily for half an hour, gave a message that "one should also be physically fit and active."
