Ram Gopal Yadav's sacrifice reaps reward for younger brother Manu's medal at Khelo India Youth Games 2023

Chhattisgarh's Manu Yadav won a silver medal in the Greco Roman 55kg category at the ongoing Khelo India Youth Games 2023 held across Tamil Nadu. This was Manu's second medal at the event after he bagged gold in the previous edition.

Manu's journey to back-to-back podium finishes in wrestling is the sacrifice made by his brother Ram Gopal Yadav, who himself aspired to become a wrestler at a young age. However, lack of guidance and financial support didn't help the elder brother to pursue his dreams. But Ram ensured that Manu never faced the same obstacles.

Even when Manu thought of quitting wrestling a few years ago, Ram asked him to focus on his training, though meeting the daily ends was a challenge. The young wrestler would take up odd jobs at one of the steel factories in his village Rasmara to lend a helping support to his family.

“My family has been my backbone, I loved sports but it was only after my brother motivated me, I took it up seriously. It’s my third appearance in the Khelo India Youth Games, and I’m happy to get my second medal. I won a gold in the previous edition,” said Manu.

Ram got a job as a Physical Education teacher in a private school in Durg. After receiving his first payment, he decided to travel to a couple of akhadas in Haryana to understand how the advanced facilities in training work. He wanted to take a cue from there and bring it to his village.

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Ram Gopal Yadav's ambitions to help budding wrestlers from his locality raise their game

Back home in Durg, Ram Gopal along with his friend Satyendra Nishad decided to push their younger siblings Manu and Abhishek Nishad to some basic training in wrestling before they could send them to Delhi or Haryana for enhancement.

A day before Manu won silver, Abhishek bagged his first Khelo India Youth Games medal in the form of a silver after losing the Greco Roman 60kg final to Maharashtra grappler Samarth.

"I'm happy that Manu is gradually getting the benefits of the hard work he has put in. He now trains in Narela (Delhi) at the Guru Virender wrestling academy. The coaches are putting in a lot of effort, and it can be seen from his performances,” Ram Gopal said.

“Abhishek has also started performing well. He and Manu are in the same academy today. It’s a proud moment for us, who wanted to promote the sport at all cost,” he added.

Ram Gopal wants to train budding wrestlers back at home even though he finds it difficult at times to manage expenses from his meager payment of Rs 8,000 from the private school.