Srinagar (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], August 22 : After clinching a gold medal in Women's Canoeing C-1 200-meter at the Khelo India Water Games Festival 2025 on Friday, Rashmita Sahoo said she thought of leaving sports because of her family, but her father encouraged her to continue.
It was the culmination of years of the 23-year-old's hard work that fetched Rasmita top honours when she clocked 53.53 seconds, ahead of athletes from Kerala and Madhya Pradesh in Srinagar's iconic Dal Lake.
Rasmita, who hails from a fishing community of Choudwar, Cuttack, was just nine years old when her father, a fisherman, met with a motor accident in 2011, leaving him critically injured, and their five-member family without livelihood.
Four years later, in 2015, her mother met with a similar road accident, but, unlike Rasmita's father, she could not battle her injuries and passed away. This left Rasmita shattered, and the family desolate.
"If we consistently think about our sadness, we will not move on in our lives. I also think about leaving sports because of my family. On this, my father asked me not to leave sports, so I listened to him and continued with the games. After this, I motivated myself a lot. When I was practising, I often thought that I should practice so that I could win a medal," Rashmita Sahoo told ANI.
In the last National Games held in Uttarakhand, she fetched silver in Canoeing Doubles Women's and a bronze in Canoeing Single Women's events. Before that, she had won the gold in the Canoeing Single Women's event in Bhopal.
Having won a gold medal at a national event, Rasmita became eligible for recruitment in Odisha Police and has been a proud officer since 2024, taking care of a four-member family.
Her coach, Laishram Johanson Singh, said he has high hopes of an international medal from her and would train her for the 2026 Asian Games.
"I have been training her continuously since 2020, right from her junior to senior level. She made her first mark in the 2018 Special Area Games. Since then, she has come a long way, and I expect her to win a medal at the 2026 Asian Games," he said.