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Somewhere, in the glamorous world of cricket and the Indian Premier League, we tend to ignore and forget some of the sporting heroes who deserve their fair share of attention and appreciation.These sportsmen are just few of the many who managed to carve a niche for themselves in the wide world of sports despite their disabilities, for we have absolutely no clue how much they had to go through and how much they had to sacrifice in order to realise their dreams.But somehow, for some reason, inspite of the many laurels they bring for the country, they remain forgotten and unappreciated. It is not just the poverty that hurts, but the trauma of anonymity.The disturbing sagas of some ofthese forgotten heroes brings tofore the apathy and negligence shown towards these real-life heroes by the sports officials. It is high time that the ministry wakes up to the cause and provides for enough financial support to these sportsmen who shed their blood and sweat in order to win laurels for the country, so that they can live in dignity even after their playing days are over. If such things are not taken care of, how can we even expect the youngsters to take up sports as a career option? As it is rightly said, if a nation does not care for its sporting heroes who earned glory for it in the past, it can expect none in the future.
#5 Shankar Lakshman
Shankar Lakshman was the hockey goalkeeper who stood between gold for India and brutal Pakistan onslaughts in the finals of 1964 Tokyo Olympics and 1966 Bangkok Asian Games. Lakshman represented the Indian team at the 1956, 1960 and the 1964 Olympics, and won 2 gold medals and 1 silver medal. He was the first goalkeeper to ever captain an international hockey team and was conferred the Arjuna Award and the Padma Shri for his contribution. Lakshman started his carrer in 1955 and earned kudos for his daredevil goalkeeping. He figured in three Asian Games starting 1958 when hockey was first introduced in the Asiad in Tokyo, and was the captain of the Indian team which won the gold at the 1966 Asian Games. Lakshman was described by his rivals as the ‘Rock of Gibraltor' as they found it very tough to beat him.
Despite his superb showings, Lakshman was treated shabilly by the Indian Hockey Federation and was left shocked when he was dropped from the squad for 1968 Mexico Olympics. After missing the selection, Lakshman quit hockey. He remained with the Army, retiring in 1979 as a captain of the Maratha Light Infantry. He lived the final years of his life in poverty, and died in 2006 after suffering from gangrene.
#4 Ashwini Nachappa
Ashwini Nachappa represented India in three editions of South Asian Federation Games and won three gold and four silver medals, in addition to her silver medal at the 1990 Asian games in Beijing, China. She also represented India in two World Championships, 1987 in Rome and 1991 in Tokyo.
But Nachappa’s claim-to-fame happenend when she outrun the legendary P.T. Usha not once, but twice. That was such a significant feat that she began to be referred to as India’s FloJo (Florence Griffith Joyner was an American athlete who is considered the fastest woman of all time). But with no future in the sport, she made a switch to acting and has since been forgotten completely.
#3 Sarwan Singh
Another once-upon-a-time shining light who faded into oblivion is Sarwan Singh. He won the gold medal in 110m hurdles at the 1954 Asian Games in Philippines. Those 14.7 seconds he took to cover the 110 metres, flying over hurdles were described by him as the best moments of his life. It was his first international event and what was expected to be the first of many.
But fate had different plans in store for him. What followed next were 20 painful years as a taxi driver of a rented car in Ambala, far away from the gaze of his family and friends. The monthly pension of Rs. 1,500 provided to him at the age of 70, was hardly sufficient to fill the mouth of his dear ones, so much so that Sarwan SIngh, the Asian Games gold medalist, was forced to take up a daily wage work
The gold medalist that hung around his neck very proudly, was now worth no more than a useless piece of metal. He was reduced to having to beg for survival and even ended up selling his medal in the process, just to keep his life ticking somehow.
#2 Murlikant Petkar
Cfn. Murlikant Petkar was a private-jawan in the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME) in the Indian Army. A champion boxer before he sustained several bullet wounds during the 1965 India-Pakistan war, he was forced to switch to swimming, athletics, table tennis and other sports as a result of his permanent disabilities.
He made his debut in the 1968 Paralympics in table tennis and reached the second round. But Petkar found his bearings in the swimming arena and created a sensation in the 50 metres freestyle 3 event at Heidelberg 1972 when he clocked 37.331 seconds to win gold medal with a world record to boot. In the same games, he participated in javelin throw, precision javelin throw and slalom. He reached the finals in all three events. He won 4 more medals for India on the international front, and was later employed by TELCO in Pune.
However, Petkar's result does not figure anywhere in the records of Paralympics Committee of India because they started maintaining the records only from 1984 onwards and therefore many aren’t aware of the achievements of this multi-faceted sportsman.
#1 Makhan Singh
Feared by even the great Milkha Singh, Makhan Singh was the kin of one of the finest athletes India has ever produced. Born in the Bathulla village in the Hoshiarpur district of Punjab, he earned many laurels for India competing at both national and international platforms. The tragic saga of this champion athlete is no different from other forgotten sporting heroes in this country, being devoid of help by the government when he and his family needed it most.
Makhan Singh won his first medal at the 1959 National Games in Cuttack. But the moment of his career came when he beat the ‘Flying Sikh’ Milkha Singh himself in a 400m race at the 1962 Kolkata National Games, on his way to notching up four gold medals. He went on to represent India at the 1962 Asian Games in Jakarta where he won the relay gold in the 4 x 400m relay event and a silver medal in the 400m race. In 1964 he was conferred the Arjuna award by then President Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, the country’s highest award for sporting excellence, for his remarkable achievements.
It was at this moment when life for Makhan Singh took off on a tangent. Needing financial support for his family, Makhan Singh started driving a truck in Nagpur. Unfortunately, he met with an accident and lost a leg there, which ended his athletics career. He did not receive any financial aid from the government, and his family suffered in poverty. To beat poverty, the athlete opened a stationary shop, 3 km from his village but could not sustain it as he had to undertake cycling on one leg. Two of his sons passed away due to illness and lack of proper medical support, whereas his third son works as a sewadar in Hoshiarpur BDPO’s office and earns a meagre salary of Rs. 2,500 a month, which is hardly sufficient to feed his entire family. He couldn’t earn enough to lead a respectable life and died of a chronic heart disease in 2002. His wife has since been forced to sell away all his medals and trophies to keep themselves alive.
