From working as hawker, bouncer and delivery boy, Chandigarh judoka wins silver at National Games

“When I started training, my day would begin at 4.30 am with the newspaper hawker work before I trained at the centre followed by attending classes at my college and then again practising in the evening followed by working as a food delivery person and bouncer too. I would earn Rs 1,500 as a newspaper hawker, Rs 4500 from Zomato and some more money from the club. As I called my father after winning the silver today, first he seemed upset that I lost in the final but then he then told me that my silver medal is equivalent to a gold for the whole family,” said Sunil while speaking with The Indian Express.

Sunil lost against Yash Ghanghas of Haryana in the men’s 100+ kg event finals.

Sunil, whose family hails from Hindhola Khal village in Tehri Garhwal district in Uttarakhand and settled in Chandigarh since decades, started playing judo at Dev Samaj School and won his first gold medal in the Chandigarh inter-school competitions before he started training under coach Vivek Thakur at the Sector 42 sports complex in 2017. In 2018, Sunil won the gold medla in the 100 kg + category in the All India Inter-University Judo Championship before winning bronze in the junior nationals in Jalandhar the same year.

The next year would see Sunil winning the bronze medal in All India Inter-University at Amritsar before he made it to the second round in the World University Games in Italy the same year.

It was just before the Covid-19 pandemic that Sunil got the job as a rifleman in Assam Rifles which meant that he afford to improve his diet and training. “Whenever I trained at school or later college and training centre, I would only be focused on giving my best. While I would also worry about managing the finances as my father earned only Rs 11,000 per month, I decided to undertake multiple jobs. There were days when I wanted just to rest but then my target of winning medals kept me motivated. In February 2020, when I got the job in Assam Rifles, it was an emotional moment for me as well as my whole family,” said Sunil, who idolises two-time Olympic champion Teddy Riner of France.

The last two years have seen Sunil finishing third in the trials for the Commonwealth Games apart from winning the bronze medal in the 2022 Senior Judo Nationals held at Lucknow. The Chandigarh judoka now aims for a spot in the Indian team for next year’s Asian Games.

Coach Vivek Thakur believes that Sunil needs to improve his grappling moves on the ground. “Sunil’s biggest strength has been his willpower and self-motivation. He never missed a training session despite doing multiple jobs. He fights well while standing but needs to improve on his ground moves…,” said Thakur.