For gutsy Manikandan, the climb to glory has just begun

For Manikandan K, winning gold at the IFSC World Championship for Sports Climbing was a dream come true. But instead of resting on his laurels, he has already set his sights on the future.

“I want a bigger home now,” he said. This may sound like arrogance from a 26-year-old who just returned from his first international win. But for Manikandan and his family, home is a basic necessity, considering that what they call their home can hardly accommodate one adult and they are forced to rent a room slightly bigger than the first to accommodate the rest of the family.

Manikandan, who has been climbing rocks, boulders and ‘walls’ for about 10 years now, does not think polio was his biggest obstacle to winning the gold. “My right leg is weak, especially from the thigh to the knee. But that’s not a problem. I have been climbing for 10 years now and I have learned to use the strength of the rest of my body to climb. My upper body strength is great,” he said.

“For me, it was getting the opportunity to climb or prove myself was the biggest challenge, along with money,” he said. “I could never ask my parents for money. They didn’t have any. Initially, my parents didn’t ask me about what I was up to. They still don’t. But five years after I started climbing, my father asked me to get a job. I didn’t. I told him I knew what I was doing and I was going to continue,” he said.

Six months after he began training with Keerthi Pius, at Kanteerava stadium, Manikandan began entering competitions. Although Keerthi took care of Manikandan’s basic necessities, he also took up freelance jobs. “Freelance work would fetch Rs500-Rs1,000 and increase with experience, but these were hardly anything. Between 2002 and 2006, when I started as assistant trainer at Kanteerava, Keerthi took care of me,” he said.

Like Mary Kom, Manikandan trained and competed with people bigger and stronger than himself. Polio was never an excuse. In 2003, he won the best climber award from the Indian

Mountaineering Federation. In 2005, he came second at Open Nationals in Delhi. In 2004, he came fourth for a second time at the GETHNAA South Zone Climbing Championship.

However, his ticket to a world championship came only a month before the championship. When asked if it was difficult for him, considering that sports is a difficult path to tread in India, especially for the physically challenged, Manikandan said: “There is no point in cribbing. Whether or not there is support does not matter. What a sportsperson should ask for and look out for is a chance, an opportunity to prove his/herself. That is what I was after and I got it, finally,” he said.

Asked whether there will be more such opportunities to win gold, he said he doesn’t know. “I will continue competing. But every year, it becomes tougher to compete as younger and stronger people come in. But the country will have more champions—if not me, my students,” he said confidently.