Sangram Singh with partner Payal Rohatgi

I am a fighter, believer and an optimist all rolled into one. My life has always thrown up challenges and hurdles but I could tide over them because I always believed in the Almighty.

It all started since I was a day old. I was a premature baby. Born in the sixth month of my mother’s pregnancy in a small village called Madina in the Rohtak district of Haryana. I weighed a mere 220 gms at birth. Grossly underweight, my health problems started right then.
Health facilities were very limited in my village and my parents had no money to take care of my medical expenses. So for the longest time, my parents would make do with the resources at hand and somehow managed to bring me up.
Then at the age of three, I fell seriously ill and my parents somehow managed to gather enough funds to take me to a reputed hospital in Delhi. The doctors there told my parents that I had developed early arthritis — something I would have to live with all my life. It started from my foot and slowly spread to all joints of my body. They also said that I wouldn’t live for long and my parents should be mentally prepared to lose their son sooner or later.
But by the grace of God, life went on. But ill health continued to be a part of my life. I had learnt to live with a constant cold, fever etc. As I grew older, my body became weaker and finally at the age of 4, I took to a wheelchair. I was incapable of helping myself to a glass of water, let alone play around the house like most children my age did.
I would bleed at the slightest exertion and was advised complete rest all the time. My siblings and mother had to be at my beck and call all the time and thankfully they were. I will forever be grateful to them for having been so supportive of me then.
My brother was a successful wrestler in my village. Wrestling is a craze in Haryana. Most children, regardless of their background, economic standing, etc. are sent for wrestling training here. I used to see the kind of respect my brother used to command from the village folks and was tempted to try it myself.
I asked a friend to take me to an akhada once. I sat and watched a match in a corner and gathered the guts to go and tell the owner of that akhada that I wanted to be like the other men he trained. He simply looked at me and said, “If a guy on a wheelchair starts entering the wrestling ring, every Tom, Dick and Harry in Haryana will run around with a wrestler tag.”
The words stung me, but I was more determined than ever to challenge my fate. I started making attempts at getting up from my wheelchair when no one was watching and try to walk. I would fall and bruise myself, but I never gave up. Luckily for me, I met another Panditji who ran an akhada in the village and when I told him about my dreams he said that nothing is impossible if I put my mind to it. He narrated inspiring stories of sportsmen like Lance Armstrong who despite his testicular cancer went on to become a world-renowned cyclist. He also advised me on matters related to nutrition and fitness.
Finally at the age of 12, after eight long years of restricted movement, I was fit enough to let go of that wheelchair. When that happened, it reaffirmed my mother’s and Panditji’s faith in me and they told me that if I have defied my destiny, then I am born to create history. I gained support from my family and started training rigorously towards achieving my goal.
I came from a very modest background and we had a certain portion of food for everyone in the house. We would all have three rotis and that was that.
But my mother saw the effort I was putting in and would keep an extra roti and glass of milk aside just for me. I would run for miles to build stamina. Since I couldn’t afford shoes, I would stop at intervals and dip my legs in cold water at a pond so they wouldn’t get bruised very badly. I owe my health and physique to no supplements. I have never touched non-vegetarian food or eggs in my entire life. It’s a myth that wrestlers need to thrive on those things. Milk and asli ghee have been my only “supplements”.
Luckily for me, God answered my prayers and soon I was going for championships and winning medals. I became one of the top 10 wrestlers in Senior World Wrestling Championship in Hungary, won a medal at the Commonwealth Games, won the John Ritz Tournament in South Africa, so on and so forth.
Our government is very funny. Once a man has proved his mettle and made a career, they shower him with money and gifts. Sportspersons come from such varied backgrounds and not everyone has the financial support to sustain a career. Many of them are also supporting their families while trying to establish a career in a sport, so the government’s contribution is critical. No one bothers to give him a nudge in the process of training. I hope to change that.
I want to do whatever is in my capacity to encourage wrestling as a sport in India. If God continues to be kind, I also hope to start a wrestling league in the country. There is no dearth of talent in our country. With a population like ours, we’re capable of bringing more than just half a dozen medals home from the Olympics. I’ve had to struggle a lot, so I want to be the catalyst that brings about that change.