Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 29

There were times when the family would sleep without having a meal. Sarwan Singh, an auto-rickshaw driver, would think of how to come out of miserable existence. Then one day her youngest daughter Veerpal Kaur (20) shared her wish to play.

Many thoughts crossed Sarwan’s mind like how he would provide a proper diet, arrange money for her practice, training, etc. But he did not want the problems to stand in the way of his daughter’s success, so he took loans and ensured that his daughter got it all. He has still to return the borrowed money to the lenders.

And now, Veerpal, who won a silver medal in the Junior National Wrestling Championship (held in 2018 and 2021), is going to give trials for the World Wrestling Championship on July 4 that will be held in New Delhi. The 2018 championship had taken place in Jaipur, while in 2021, it was held in Karnataka.

Veerpal, originally from Tarn Taran, started training in Jalandhar’s Jagjit Wrestling Academy after getting selected through Khelo India Games. She shares her story. “From my house, the training centre was 10 km away in Tarn Taran. I would cycle to the centre everyday and in the evening, my father would land there to take me along with my cycle tied atop the auto-rickshaw. This continued for long without any break. He would not allow me to come alone in the evening because of the area not safe for girls, especially at night,” the young wrestler said.

She goes on to add that she faced a lot of difficulties in having a proper diet and there were times when she would not even eat anything after returning from the practice and sleep empty stomach.

“But my father has sacrificed a lot. And I have done this hard work just for him. He suffered a lot and took great pains so that I could succeed. So, it gave me more strength to do more hard work to make him proud,” Veerpal Kaur said.

These days, she is practising at her home, but without any mat. Because of the pandemic, the hostels in the academies are not open, that is why she has no choice but to do practice on the concrete floor. “There will be players from all over the country, I really wish that my little efforts pay me off and I am selected in the World Championship,” she hoped.