P U Chitra

Palakkeezhil Unnikrishnan Chitra was born on 9th June 1995 in Palakkad, Kerala. She is an athlete specialized in track and field. Chitra is a middle-distance runner and is known for running 1500m. Her parents are daily wage laborers who encouraged her to pursue her sports career.  During her schooling at Mundur, she received a monthly amount of Rs 600 and a daily amount of Rs 25 from the Kerala Sports Council for her training. NS Sijin is her personal coach, and when she went on to the national level, she received training from Nikolai Snesarev.  She had run from 800m to 5000m.

In 2009, she grabbed the attention of everyone at the state-level school competitions. She won the Gold Medal in the 3000 m event in the Kerala state school athletics. In the same competition, she won a silver medal in1500m event. She got an opportunity to represent her state in 2011 and took part in the National Games in Pune. Chitra grabbed three gold medals in 1500m, 3000m and 5000m events. She even won a bronze in the cross country race for 3km.

In 2012, Chitra once again won three gold medals in 1500m, 3000m and 5000m events Kerala State School Games, held in Trivandrum. Gradually, she started gaining the attention of sports enthusiasts. In 2013, she won gold medals in state, national and continental levels. In the next year, Chitra repeated the same at the Kerala State School Games in Ernakulam. She took part in the National School Games held in Etawah in Uttar Pradesh. She grabbed the gold medals in 1500m, 3000m and 5000m events as usual. This time, she won one more gold in the cross country race for 3km, which she had already won a bronze in the previous year. Asian School Athletic meet was held and in the first meet, she won gold in the 3000m race. 

In 2016, she took part in the National School Games held in Ranchi, Jharkhand. She took part in 1500m, 3000m, 5000m and the cross country race of 3km and won gold in all the events. In the same year. Chitra took part in the South Asian Games, representing India. She won her first gold for India at the senior level in 1500m. In September 2017, she won a gold medal in 1500m at the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games. In 2018, she won a bronze medal at the Asian Games. In 2019, she retained her title at the Asian Athletics Championship held in Doha.  

When she was adjudged as the Best Athlete in the National School Athletics Meet in UP and at the Kerala School Meet, she won two Tata Nano cars and her medals, which happened in 2013.