A Commonwealth of opportunity

Indian athletes vouch for ability of Commonwealth Games to change lives, even as its legacy struggles to find relevance

- VAIBHAV RAGHUNANDAN

"The first medal is always a special one," she says, "People remember. And even if they don't, I do. And evidently, you do too." With that final sentence N Soniya Chanu laughs heartily. The records prove this. On October 4, 2010, (a date she remembers clearly) at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium Soniya won silver in the 48kg weightlifting event. Through purely scheduling luck, she became the first Indian to win a medal at their home Games.

"It would be presumptuous of me to say that my medal changed weightlifting in my state," Soniya humbly says, "but it changed my life." In 1999, financial pressure forced Soniya to shift to Lucknow, where her coach offered to train and house her, while also getting her a job with the police. She was grateful to the state, but also realised that she'd never really get the recognition she deserved. "I wasn't from there you see," she says. That medal though changed things. Within days, she received an out-of-turn promotion and was even awarded some money by her home state.