"I did a part-time job in Banaras as a waiter"- Ram Baboo talks about the struggles to finance his sporting aspirations [Exclusive]

Ram Baboo recently made his mark on the international stage by clinching a bronze medal at the Asian Games in the 35km race walk mixed team event. His journey to this historic achievement was far from conventional, driven by resilience and an unwavering spirit for excellence.

Hailing from an economically deprived background, Ram could never afford the luxury of solely focusing on his sporting aspirations. Instead, the 24-year-old juggled part-time jobs and overcame numerous hurdles to reach his podium finish in Hangzhou.

In an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda, Ram Baboo spoke about how his poor background and financial constraints were always a concern, and to support his training and aspirations, he took on several part-time jobs.

“I couldn't get enough money from home, and because of this, I took up a part-time job in Banaras as a waiter for a month. As a waiter, I had so much work, and I didn't get any respect. I kept thinking that I was a good athlete. How could I endure so much disrespect? So, I did it for a month, and then I left it. I took up another part-time job as a courier boy and also did sewing and packaging work. I did that for 3–4 months in Banaras. While working, I realized that while doing a part-time job, it is very difficult to achieve anything big in sports. Because of the workload in addition to the load of training, it is very difficult for the body to recover.”

Ram Baboo also recounted the pivotal moment that ignited his sporting ambitions and how he went on to take up the sport.

"I belong to Buxar district, Sonbhadra, Uttar Pradesh, and was studying at Navodaya Vidyalaya, Sonbhadra, in 2012 while the Olympic Games were going on. This place is known for its education, but we used to get a lot of news about the Olympic Games, and this continued for 15-20 days, the entire duration of the games.”

Baboo also saw several athletes do incredibly well and receive both respect and support, something he too dreamed of attaining. He went on to say,

“After that, I saw the athletes that won medals at the Olympics get a lot of respect. The government also supported them. So, I thought that it would be good to start playing sports too. One of my seniors, Abhishek Bindra, said that education is good, but if you go into sports, you get a good platform, which can get you both name and fame. On the other hand, even if you study and become an officer, a lot of people will not know you.”

Inspired by the athletes' achievements and motivated by his senior, Ram decided to follow this path. His mother's encouragement also played a significant role, as she urged him to rise above their impoverished circumstances and make a name for himself and the country.

“My mother also said that even if we are living our lives in poverty, you should go and make a name for yourself and the country. My mother believed that many people are born and then just die without doing much, but it shouldn’t be like that. I agreed; I too had a dream from the beginning that I wanted to do something in life.”

The catalyst for Ram's shift to sports was a movie he watched during the Olympic Games. He recounted,

"When the Olympic Games were going on, I also watched a movie called Born to Run- Budhia Singh. It is a sports-related movie. After watching the movie, I planned to run a marathon. In 2014, I ran a full marathon of 42 km."

However, as he gained more knowledge about the sporting world, he realized that marathon running was not the most suitable path.

“After this, I gathered information, gained knowledge, and found out that a marathon is not a good event. And life after running marathons is not good. So, I shifted to running short distances like 5 km or 10 km.”

After taking up running, while Ram always dreamed of participating in some big competitions, it wasn’t a goal of his until much later.

“I was in school at that time, so it was not about playing in national or international events. I just practiced. But it was always a dream that I wanted to play in good competitions. After schooling, I did a plus 2 (11th–12th education) in 2017. And after that, I decided to focus on sports—the 5 km and 10 km events in particular.”

"I realized that if I wanted to compete at the senior level, I had to train with senior athletes" - Ram Baboo on shifting to Bhopal

In 2018, Ram Baboo suffered a knee injury that prevented him from performing at his best, but this also turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the injury caused him to take up race walking instead of short-distance running.

“In 2018, I got a knee injury. I used to train in Sigra. But after the injury, I returned home. We have an NCL company in Sonbhadra. Because of CSR funding, they organized a camp. I went to my district stadium, and a senior there asked me to join the camp. I spoke to the coach at that time, Pramod Yadav Sir, and told him that I wanted to join the camp. I trained there for 2 months, after which, because of my injury, I couldn't run properly. Sir scolded me a couple of times, but then he suggested that I change my event; maybe I could do better in another event like racewalking. I completely shifted to racewalking on September 5, 2018.”

His pursuit of excellence led him to Saifai, where he commenced his journey in race walking. He trained diligently alongside younger athletes, and his exceptional progress quickly helped him outshine the juniors, prompting him to make a shift to Bhopal to train with better athletes.

“I went to Saifai to train for racewalking. I started training with several kids from the sports college. They were juniors, and I outperformed them all in six months. I realized that if I wanted to compete at the senior level, I had to train with senior athletes. So, I shifted to Bhopal to train with better athletes.”

Since taking up race walking, Ram Baboo has broken the national record and also won a medal at the national games. He now targets a podium at the Olympic Games in Paris.