SPORTS
Incheon: As Khushbir Kaur reached the athletics arena on Sunday morning, she heard some disappointed news. India were deprived of a medal in the 3000 metres steeplechase event.
But then, Kaur is used to swimming against the tide. From the time her father died in 2000, life took a horrible turn. Brought up in a remote village in Punjab, Kaur's story is straight out of a Bollywood movie. Her mother sacrificed her entire life to feed three daughters and a son.
On Sunday, when Kaur crossed the finish line to win the silver medal in the 20 km race walking event, she virtually brought down the curtain on an impoverished life. "The dream of my mother (Jagbir Kaur) has come true," she said, proudly displaying her medal. "It's all because of my mother," she added. Her moist eyes said it all. "She made so many sacrifices to raise us. You can't comprehend it. It was my mother who pushed me to take up sport. Today, all that I have achieved is because of her," Kaur added.
Initially, life wasn't all that difficult initially for these four kids. "We came from a well-to-do family but after my father's death 14 years ago, life became very difficult." Kaur's mother worked in several households in Arslapur village (Amritsar district) to earn a living and feed her children. "She never deprived us of anything. Even though my mother is illiterate, she ensured her children went to school," Kaur said. Her elder sister hold a masters; another is doing Bed.
"I was inclined towards studies. But my mother told me to take up this sport and I started training with coach Baldev Singh," she said. Kaur did well at the state and national levels. But as she joined the national camp and started training under foreign coach Alexander Artsybashev of Russia in 2011, her performance improved rapidly. She has broken the national record four times in the last three years.
She set a new national record of 1:33.03s on May 14 this year to improve on her previous best of 1:33.37. She won silver at the Asian Youth Championships and finished ninth at the Youth Olympics in Nanjing recently. "The Russian coach has done a really good job with us. KT Irfan did really well at the Olympics. I missed out on an Olympic berth due to lack of experience. All credit goes to Alexander sir for this performance of ours."
DID YOU KNOW?
Khushbir Kaur has become the first Indian woman to win a 20km Race Walk silver medal in the Asian Games. She has bettered her personal best timing and also set a new national record
shekhar.luthra@dnaindia.net
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