payyoli express P T Usha Bio Photos Pictures

posted by chandramoulesh G K on 9/02/2010 09:42:00 PM | Permalink >> 0 Comments

Payyoli is a village on the North Malabar Coast of Kozhikode district in the South Indian state of Kerala.

Payyoli is the birth place of Indian sports legend P.T.Usha.

P. T. Usha is an Indian athlete from the state of Kerala. P. T. Usha has been associated with Indian athletics since 1979. She is regarded as one of the greatest athletes India has ever produced and is often called the "queen of Indian track and field". She is nicknamed Payyoli Express.

Usha School of Athletics, started by her in 2002 at a rented house in Koyilandy near Kozhikode, in Kerala, with Rs 10,000 from her savings, has recently moved into a 30-acre campus in Kinalur village, 20 km from Kozhikode city. Kinalur was in the news recently when the police clashed with villagers who protested a four-lane approach road to the proposed industrial park being set up by the state government-owned Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) and the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), a statutory body established in Malaysia.

The residential school at the foot of a hill can house 40 athletes, has a multi gym, a 400-metre mud track and space earmarked for a synthetic track. The school now trains 19 athletes. Speaking to Financial Chronicle, during an early morning training session at the new campus, Usha does not hold back her anger and frustration in dealing with successive governments at the state and at the centre to create a sporting infrastructure even as she directs her protégé Tintu Luka to complete the 800-metre run in less than two minutes.

payyoli express