Despite ‘hurdles’, Varanasi’s Nidhi bags silver medal at Canada event
LUCKNOW : Nidhi Singh Patel — the proud ‘bahu’ of Varanasi — brought laurels to the country by winning a silver medal at the 8th Women’s Commonwealth Classic Powerlifting and Bench Press Championship at Canada on Monday night.
Having bagged 14 international medals, including 10 gold, Nidhi, 29, who has been an ad hoc coach with the UP Sports Directorate, not only had to borrow funds for her trip but also run from pillar to the post to get the visa.
Nidhi, who bagged silver by lifting 90 kg in the 57-kg weight category, was promised a help of Rs 1.5 lakh by a minister in the state government but the money is yet to be credited to her account.
If Nidhi didn’t get the money before September 20, she will have to face an embarrassing situation from the Indian Powerlifting Federation, which has funded Rs 1.40 lakh to her trip as loan.
“We are still waiting for the minister’s help as we had no other option but to borrow the funds from IPF, which supported Nidhi at the last minute,” her coach Kamlapati Tripathi said on Tuesday.
“Financial support to the powerlifters is the biggest issue in the state as all the lifters fund their own trips even to the World Championships etc., and this is happening only in UP,” he added.
“We will raise the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi as she comes from his Lok Sabha constituency, and the issue of financial support to the lifters has to be sorted out. If there is no support from the government, the talent will finish.”
This isn’t the first time when Nidhi has been facing such a crisis situation as ever since she won a silver medal at her maiden international event at the Asia Bench Press Powerlifting in the Philippines in 2010, Nidhi and her team have been hard up for money. Sometimes, they have to remain content with small contributions of Rs 500 or Rs 5,000.
“We don’t get any support by the UP Sports Directorate. Almost all the powerlifters come from the poor financial backgrounds, but here no one to listens to us,” said Tripathi, who has been coaching Nidhi since 2008.
“She (Nidhi) kept begging for the funds as managing Rs 2.9 lakh for the championship was beyond our means. It (having to seek funds) has become a habit now. We are thankful to people, including a number of politicians, who have supported our lifters in the past too,” said Tripathi.
Nidhi, who undergoes routine training at LR Fitness World in Morchaghar area in Mirzapur, almost 280-km away from the state capital, was lucky to make it to the Canada event as on her first application for visa was rejected. Her second attempt for the same on could see success only on Friday last.
“I was tough for her to make it to the championship. Even we managed a few thousand rupees for her at the airport in a hurry as she had no money,” said Tripathi, adding, “She could have won the gold medal, if she had been in a good estate of mind before leaving for the prestigious event.”