Former track and field athlete Pilavullakandi Thekkeraparambil Usha, popularly known as PT Usha, was nominated to the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, July 6. Prime Minister Narendra Modi made the announcement that PT Usha is a presidential nominee through a tweet, congratulating the retired athlete from Kerala. “The remarkable PT Usha Ji is an inspiration for every Indian. Her accomplishments in sports are widely known but equally commendable is her work to mentor budding athletes over the last several years. Congratulations to her on being nominated to the Rajya Sabha,” Prime Minister Modi said in a tweet.
PT Usha lost a historic bronze medal in 400m hurdles at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics when Cristieana Cojacaru of Romania beat her by 1/100th of a second. Popularly known as Payyoli Express, she established herself as the queen of Asian track and field by winning six medals - five gold and a bronze - at Jakarta in Indonesia a year later during the 1985 Asian championships. She was also awarded the Padma Shri in the same year she starred at the Asian Championships.
Following her athletics career, Usha remained away from the public eye while running her sports academy, Usha School of Athletics in Balussery, Kerala. She is married to kabbadi player V Sreenivasan, and was trained by the renowned athletics coach OM Nambiar.
Twelve members are nominated by the President to the Rajya Sabha for a term of six years. These nominees, selected on the advice of the Prime Minister, are people who have made significant achievements in the fields of arts, literature, science etc. PT Usha was among four nominees to the Rajya Sabha announced on Wednesday, all of whom are from south India. The other three are music composer Ilayraja, Dharmasthala temple administrator Veerendra Heggade and screenwriter and director KM Vijayendra Prasad.