How kabaddi gave Naik a much-needed lifeline

NEW DELHI: During his teenage years. Ranjit Ven katra ma na Na ik wo uld often wake up to find his house was flooded. Loca ted in a low-lying area in the coastal Karnataka town of Bhatkal, the house made of mud. bricks a nd asbestos s heets was not eno ugh to keep the rai nwater out.

His father Bhaska r Na raya n, a daily wage labourer, and moth er Sushila, a homemake r, cou ld barely ma nage to feed their three children, let alone fix the house. To make ma tters worse, Na ik's parents had taken a loan for his eld er siste r Raksha·s ed ucatio n which they were finding it tough to repay. Though Naik was studying in a govern ment school where edu· cation was free, he was finding il stre nuo us to arra nge funds for any extra expense.

To find a way arou ndall the hardships, Naik, then in lOth grade, fell upon his favourite sport a nd lifelong passion - kabadd i. Naik's inte rest co in· cided wi th the groWlh ofthe Pro Kabad di League (PKL ). He wou ld watch PKL matches. pick up tri ck s of t he trade. Realising his st rength and skill, Naik·s family decided, in 2018. to send him 150km away to Alva·s College in Moodabidri. The training bo re fruit as Naik participated in the 2020 Junior Nationals in Haryana for Karnataka.

But his fortunes tru ly tur ned when PKL's most successful team Patna Pirates picked him in September for ~8.78la kh for the nin th season of the league. The situation has improved in the Naik house hold too. Bhas· ka r Narayan now drives a truck.

Raksha is employed in a private company while his other sister, Rakshita. works as a beautician.

With the money that he·s now earning, Na ik has two motives - to get his sisters mar· ried and to build a "good house" for the fam ily.