Mahendragarh: Behind para-athlete Sharmila Dhanakhar’s 9.81-metre gold medal throw in the Commonwealth Games F57 shot put lies a trail of sacrifices: selling her house, driving an auto-rickshaw and overcoming childhood polio to reach the top of the podium.“There is no substitute for hard work,” said the 39-year-old, who was raised in Chhithroli village in Haryana’s Mahendragarh district, and contracted polio at age two. Sharmila grew up in poverty. Her father, a small farmer, died two years ago; her mother is visually impaired. Married young due to economic hardship, her first marriage ended at 26 when her husband abandoned her, leaving her to raise two young daughters alone. Her life turned two years later when she married her second husband, Ajit. Inspired by a news article on para-athletics, Ajit urged her to take up sports. In 2019, at age 34, she began training under coaches Tekchand and Devender in Rewari. To finance her career, the family sold their home in 2023 and moved into rented housing. Sharmila drove an auto-rickshaw between her village and Ateli to support them while continuing her training. She had previously worked briefly as a bus conductor during a 2018 state transit strike. The F57 event is a classification for athletes with lower limb impairments who compete from a fixed seated position. Sharmila missed the podium at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, finishing fourth, before retooling her technique for Glasgow. Sharmila said, “This medal is the reward for six years of relentless dedication. I dedicate it to my husband and my daughters, who stood by me through every challenge.” Her success has inspired her family. Her daughters, Anuj, 17, and Lakshmi, 13, now compete in the javelin and long jump, respectively. “He always believed she would make the nation proud,” her mother, Santosh, said of her late husband. “If he were alive today, this would be the happiest day of his life,” she said, adding that Sharmila still loves homemade ‘dahi-churma’ and ‘gond laddoos’, just as she did in childhood. The victory has sparked celebrations across Chhithroli. Relative Om Prakash Dhanakhar recalled that Sharmila excelled in both academics and sports as a child and never allowed life’s hardships to define her. Villager Narendra Dhanakhar said the entire community is eagerly waiting to welcome its champion home.
