Chuki Birda clears 3.91m to set national junior pole vault record

Chuki Birda, 19, set a new national record of 3.91m in the pole vault at the 41st National Junior Athletics Championships at the Nehru Stadium in Chennai on Saturday. A group of supporters from her village and well-wishers in Chennai reacted loudly from the stands after her successful clearance.

The athlete, from Rajasthan, is one of eight daughters and carries a name that, her mentor Ram Nivas Sahu said, means ‘full stop’ in the local dialect; her parents named her believing the next child would be a boy, after which the next two children were girls. Ram Nivas Sahu, who is also a government school teacher and Chuki’s mentor, was among those who watched her reach the record mark.

Ram Nivas recounted how a school punishment first revealed her speed: “She was asked to run, touch a wall and return to the classroom. Chuki came first, and that was when I noticed her speed,” recalled Ram Nivas, her mentor and a government school teacher.

Chuki’s sporting path moved from kabaddi to running and hurdles before she took up pole vault, a discipline the pair initially learned from online resources. “We didn’t know anything about pole vault. We watched videos on YouTube and started learning the basics,” said Ram Nivas.

Support for equipment and logistics arrived through Nidhi Chaudhari, an IAS officer, and the Mumbai-based Parmarth Seva Samiti, which provided gear valued at ₹10 lakh according to Ram Nivas. Chuki now trains in Haryana under Captain Ramdari Singh; she said, “Our coach spends the whole day with us. He takes care of everything, including injuries.”

Chuki acknowledged setbacks on the way to the record, saying, “I suffered injuries two or three times. It has taken me a long time to reach 3.91m,” added the 19-year-old. She credited her family for their support: “My father supports me, but my mother supports me even more,” she said, and she said she hopes to do well at the senior level next year.

Ram Nivas expressed his expectation for her future on the international stage, saying, “She will win an international medal for India.”