5 Indian star athletes who had terribly difficult childhoods

Not every person is born with a silver spoon in their mouth. It takes tremendous amount of hard work, dedication and patience to succeed in life. Excelling in sport follows the same rule. Many Indian athletes were not born to an affluent or a middle class family and had to strive for their goals in the midst of difficulties that life presents. They did not see those tough situations as an impediment, but as an opportunity to work even harder and achieve what they set out to. Here are 5 athletes who made the nation proud battling all odds.

#5 Deepika Kumari

Deepika Kumari was born in Ranchi to Shivnarayan Mahato, an auto driver and Geeta Mahato, a nurse in Ranchi Medical college. She practised archery by hitting mangoes with stones as a child. The family found it difficult to support her training and often compromised on the family budget to make sure that she gets to train with the right equipment. During this tough phase, she practised archery using bamboo bows and arrows.

Deepika’s cousin Vidya Kumari, who was also an archer helped her with the game. All this effort paid off as she is one of the most successful archers in the world right now.

Her achievements:

2010 Commonwealth Games- Recurve Individual – Gold

2010 Commonwealth Games- Recurve team – Gold

2010 Asian Games – Recurve team – Bronze

2011 Istanbul World Cup – Silver

2012 Tokyo World Cup – Silver

2013 Shanghai World Cup – Silver

In 2014, Deepika was featured by Forbes (India) as one of their '30 under 30'.

#4 Vijender Singh

Vijender Singh was born in Kaluwas village, 5 Km from Bhiwani in Haryana. His father, Mahipal Singh Beniwal, is a bus driver with the Haryana Roadways, while his mother is a homemaker. His father drove buses overtime so as to pay for Vijender and his elder brother Manoj's education.

After boxer Raj Kumar got an Arjuna award in 1990, the popularity of the sport increased on an exponential level. This prompted Vijender and his brother Manoj to take up boxing as a career. Manoj managed to enter the Indian Army thanks to his boxing skills. He then decided to support Vijender financially so that he could continue his boxing training.

He practiced under coach Jagdish Singh at the Bhiwani boxing club. He even tried his hand at modelling to support his boxing career.

His achievements:

2006 Asian Games – Middleweight – Bronze

2006 Commonwealth Games – Welterweight – Silver

2008 Olympic Games – Middleweight – Bronze

2009 World Amateur Boxing Championships – Middleweight – Bronze

2010 Commonwealth Games – Middleweight – Bronze

2010 Asian Games – Middleweight – Gold

#3 Sushil Kumar

Sushil Kumar was born in the village of Baprola, near South-West Delhi. His father, Diwan Singh was a DTC bus driver and mother Kamla Devi a housewife. He was inspired to take up the sport of wrestling from his father, who was himself a wrestler and brother Sandeep.

Sandeep quit wrestling and supported Sushil as his family could manage the expenses for only one son. With poor infrastructure for wrestling in India and less funds, his family sent him tinned milk, ghee and vegetables to train for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

His achievements:

2003 Asian Championships – 60 Kg – Bronze

2003 Commonwealth Championship – 60 Kg – Gold

2005 Commonwealth Championship – 66 Kg – Gold

2007 Asian Championships – 66 Kg – Silver

2007 Commonwealth Championship – 66 Kg – Gold

2008 Olympic Games – 66 Kg – Bronze

2009 Commonwealth Championship – 66 Kg – Gold

2010 Commonwealth Games – 66 Kg – Gold

2010 World Championships – 66 Kg – Gold

2010 Asian Games – 66 Kg – Gold

2012 London Olympics – 66 Kg – Silver

2014 Commonwealth Games – 74 Kg – Gold

He is the only Indian athlete to win two consecutive medals at the Olympic games in singles competition.

#2 Milkha Singh

Milkha Singh was born in Govindpura in Punjab. He was one of 15 siblings, eight of whom died before the Partition of India. His parents, a brother and two sisters were killed during violence at the time of partition. He witnessed these killings.

Singh was sent to jail for a brief time as he was travelling in a train without a ticket. His sister Ishvar sold some jewellery to bail him out of prison. Singh was not happy with the way his life was heading and considered becoming a dacoit at one point in time, before his brother Malkhan asked him to join the Indian Army. Singh got through in his fourth attempt and was introduced to athletics in 1951.

His achievements:

1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games – 440 yards – Gold

1958 Asian Games – 100m – Gold

1958 Asian Games – 200m – Gold

1962 Asian Games – 400m – Gold

1962 Asian Games – 4 X 400m relay – Gold

#1 Mary Kom

Mary Kom was born in Kangathei, Manipur. Her parents, Mangte Tonpa Kom and Mangte Akham Kom, worked in jhum fields. She quit her school after class 8 and obtained her degree from Churachandpur College. The success of Dingko Singh inspired her to take up boxing.

Mary, a five-time world champion, had won several medals in the 46 and 48 kg categories. She was forced to shift to 51 Kg category and gain weight two years ago after the world body decided to allow women’s boxing in only three weight categories—the lowest one being 51 kg.