Being a sportsperson in India isn't the easiest of career options. Being a para-athlete can only double your worries. Lack of support monetarily, in terms of training facilities etc means that you are always unsure of a secure future, despite excelling in top competitions around the world.
One such athlete whose plight can be termed as difficult as it gets is Rajkumar Tiwari, who is India’s only gold medal winner in figure skating, winning the coveted yellow medal at the Special Winter Olympics that were held in Seoul in South Korea in 2013 despite having no money for training, a hyperactivity disorder and a low Intelligent Quotient(IQ).
At the time when he travelled to Seoul for the Games, Tiwari’s father was a street vendor in the Paharganj area of New Delhi, earning Rs 4500 per month and as a result of that, could afford just a solitary practice session of skating for his son at Gurgaon’s Ambience Hall, which costed Rs 450. Cut back to present day and his father now earns Rs 200 in a day.
5 years since that victory, the situation remains the same for the 21-year-old, who has been skating for the past 9 years, if not turned even worse. Tiwari’s ambition of doing well at the 2018 Special Winter Olympics remains intact but his monetary struggles remain the same and that has meant that along with following his passion, he also has had to take care of his family.
And so, in the morning, Tiwari works as a street vendor in Sadar Bazar in New Delhi and one listen to his diet could give your a better idea of the kind of what he needs in order to succeed.
“4 glasses of water and the energy that I get from drinking milk,” he told CNN-IBN.
In order to repeat his feat from 2013 at the Pyeongchang Games in 2018 , Tiwari needs funds and good training facilities and despite his abject situation, he is optimistic that an Indian athlete can scale great heights in the sport.
“My dream is to see India among the Top ranked nations in the world in this sport. If we can be ranked 242nd in the world, we certainly can become number 1 as well,” Tiwari adds.
This is yet another example of sportspersons in India requiring the much-needed support in order to do well on the international stage. There are countless instances in the past of athletes who put in the hard yards and were willing to give it all but lack of funds makes it very hard for them to even think of realising not just their dreams, but of the country as well.
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