Raipur, March 26 -- Back in 2022, when a sports teacher asked students to opt for different sports during a routine class, the then 11-year-old Anjali Munda quietly raised her hand and chose swimming, the only sporting activity she was familiar with.

Anjali hails from Gahiragadiya village in Odisha's Jajpur district, about 100 kilometres from Bhubaneswar, and knew swimming as a fun activity that involves splashing of water, but never had any structured training.

According to a press release, the youngest among the four siblings, whose father works as a van driver at a local factory, Anjali also moved to the Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), where tribal students from across the state receive free education and boarding, at th...