A wave of joy spread through the Vellore household of Satish Kumar Sivalingam of the Railways after he lifted the gold medal title in the Commonwealth Games on Saturday, at the Gold Cost, Australia.

Now, the tension has eased up a little his parents told media persons.

Satish, an Arjuna Awadee, won the Gold medal in the 77 kg category event. His mother, S Deivanai, gushed, “my son ever came home without a medal. Only in the Olympics he returned empty handed,” she said adding “now he is determined to have a go at the Olympics.”

Tamil Nadu chief minister Edapaddi Palaniswami on Saturday announced a cash reward of Rs 50 lakh to Satish, who works with the Southern Railways.

Father of Satish, N Sivalingam, said they were a trifle nervous this time around as the competition from the home team of Australia and England was tough. But, Satish focused on the lift and came out the winner.

When he was in class XIII, the school PT teacher put him into weight lifting competitions and since then he has made a habit of winning, said his father.

“Sathish won the district championship and then won the national schools championship. He then won the junior and senior titles,” Sivalingam said.

Growing up, as a youngster into physical sport meant that he needed rich proteins and good diet. He used to take half a litre of milk, quarter kilo of meat and two eggs every day, over and above his normal meals. “Weight lifting needs the person to have lot of protein,” he said.

Filter coffee is a strict no, no for Satish. His obedience and determination to succeed meant he kept winning and eventually landed at the National Camp in Patiala.

“Between 2006-2009 Sathish was under me and in 2010 he went to the national camp. During his school days, Sathish won the gold medal in national level competition for schools in 2007. He has won several gold at school and at the national level weightlifting championships,” said L.Vinayagamoorthy, Weightlifting Coach at the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu, Vellore. Incidentally Vellore is the home to four Arjuna awardees, six Olypians and over 40 medal winners in international competitions.

For the parents, marriage is on top of the agenda for this son. But the son himself is right now wedded to the idea of an Olympic medal.

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