HOW CORONA IS KILLING YOUNG SPORTS DREAMS

With sporting events halted, sponsors missing & hardly any resources left to keep them going, many athletics champs in Delhi start odd jobs to survive the pandemic

- Sushant Mehra and Chetan Sharma

WHEN Lokesh Kumar became the Under-14 middle-distance running champion from Delhi last year, he began nursing dreams of winning Olympic medals for his country and “breaking legendary Milkha Singh’s records.”

Today life has changed, in ways he had never imagined, for one of India’s most promising athletes. The 15-year-old is not training. He is pulling a cycle-rickshaw so that he and his family members don’t sleep hungry. A robust diet for him is no longer a priority.

“Despite winning several medals, I have no sponsors. I was staying at my sister’s house during the lockdown and we barely had anything to eat. Sometimes we had just water for a meal,” Lokesh said. His parents, who did odd jobs, are unemployed.

Ali Ansari was also hopeful of a bright future when he brought laurels to the country by bagging a bronze medal at the 2019 Asian Youth Athletics Championships. Cut to now: the 19-year-old is forced to take over his father’s fruit cart in South Delhi’s Mahipalpur.

“I have won medals at both national and international levels. My family is not financially sound and the lockdown made our lives more difficult. I have no option but to help my family. I don’t know how I will get back to sports,” said Ali who aced events like running, shot put, discus and javelin throws, long and high jumps, besides pole vault.