Tamil Nadu Twins Nithya-Vithya Ramraj aim for Asian Games medal
Twin sisters Nithya and Vithya Ramraj from Tamil Nadu are all set to represent India in the Asian Games 2023 at Hangzhou in China. Vithya and Nithya Ramraj were born within minutes of each other and have been named among the 65 athletes by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) for the Asian Games.
Nithya will represent the country in the 100m hurdles while Vithya will compete in the 400m hurdles. The sisters come from a humble background, where their mother is a homemaker and their father used to be a tempo driver.
Earlier, their father was the lone breadwinner of the family but today, Vithya is employed with the Indian Railways and Nithya is working in the Income Tax Department.
In a recent interview with PTI, Vithya Ramraj mentioned that the sisters took up sports because of their mother. Talking about their common goal, Vithya said that they wanted to represent India together in the Asian Games 2023, followed by the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“This is the biggest event of our lives and I cannot tell you how happy I am that we will be together in China. If we miss this Asian Games, the next is in 2026 and we may have been married by then. Something may happen. I hope next year also, we will go to the Olympics together,” Vithya Ramraj said.
Vithya Ramraj wins 400m race at Indian Grand Prix Athletics event
Vithya Ramraj won the gold medal in the Indian Grand Prix Athletics event in Chandigarh on Sunday, September 10. The Tamil Nadu athlete clocked her personal best of 52.40s in the women's 400m event.
Tamil Nadu's Subha Venkatesan finished second with 52.57s, while Prachi finished third with 53.01s. Notably, Vithya is not a part of the 4x400m relay team which was approved by the AFI recently but after recording a personal best in the Indian Grand Prix, she could be considered for the relay team as well.
The AFI is expected to announce the revised list for the Asian Games after the end of the Indian Grand Prix Athletics event.
In the 100m hurdles, Nithya Ramraj finished fourth with 13.55s. Nithya also finished fourth in the recently concluded Asian Athletics Championships 2023 in Bangkok.