Stories of individuals doing extraordinary things despite their difficult circumstances never get old. The sporting history of pretty much any nation is laden with such stories.
Living in a 10×10 feet tin shack near the railway tracks in the Bada Bagh slums of Delhi’s Azadpur area, Nisar Ahmed is looking to forge one such heart-warming story.
Nisar is all set to leave the slum and its surroundings behind and embark on a journey that takes him to the famed Racers Track Club in Kingston, Jamaica, which is where the most iconic personality in modern-day track and field, Usain Bolt, trained.
The son of a rickshaw puller and housemaid, Nisar was chosen with 13 other budding athletes to undergo a one-month training programme at one of the most hallowed track, and field venues in the world reported the Times of India.
These 14 promising athletes in the 15-18 age group from Odisha, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Kerala and Tamil Nadu were chosen for an initiative backed by the Gas Authority of India Limited, a public-sector enterprise, and sports management company, Anglian Medal Hunt.
After vetting the ability and potential of these athletes, the Kingston-based track club agreed to take them in for a four-week training programme.
It is remarkable that a 16-year-old Nisar has managed to maintain his tremendous athletic ability, even though his parents barely manage to pull in Rs 5,000 every month. Despite the daily poverty the budding athlete and his family endure, Nisar tells the Times of India that his parents “somehow manage” to provide him and his sister with regular food.
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A student of the Government Boys Secondary School, Ashok Vihar, Nisar has big dreams, and his talent is unmistakable. At a recent Delhi State Athletics meet, he surpassed two national under-16 records, running 100 metres in 11 seconds, and clocking 22.08 seconds in the 200-metre event.
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“I sometimes cry because God has given me a very tough life,” he tells the Times of India. “But it is my poverty that has inspired me to work hard in the face of such challenges.”
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