Sakshi's bronze sows Olympic dreams

KOLKATA: Runu Ghoroy knows only one way to respond to a challenge: Grip, choke, lift and slam on the mat. “Inside the ring, she is all fired up,“ said her trainer Asit Kumar Saha, leaving it unsaid what she might be like outside.
Galvanized by Sakshi Malik's bronze at the Rio Olympic Games, the 26-yearold woman wrestler -the most accomplished in the state with two medals under her belt -is now determined to make it big in the global arena.
“Sakshi's feat has inspired me to win medals for my country at the international level,“ said Runu, as she watched her two-year-old son run amok on the wrestling mat, sometimes jumping on the other women wrestlers or smothering them with kisses. “Wrestling runs in his blood,“ she smiled, her kohllined eyes following him.
She might be the seniormost woman wrestler in the state, but when it comes to playing with her son, she turns into an adolescent girl, doing cartwheels in the air and breaking into somersaults. But not all is fun and frolic for Runu, who had to work hard to earn her two medals -a silver at the junior National Games and bronze at Federal Games in 2012. Now, to achieve her Olympics dream, she has decided to leave home and live at Panchanan Byayam Samiti at Jorabagan in north Kolkata, the biggest and the best facility in the entire state. “It is difficult to commute from Howrah. So I stay here so that I do not waste any moment to realise my dream,“ Runu said. Though the only place in Bengal that has a wrestling mat, only 20 women train there. Of them, merely three to four were regulars, said Saha. Among them are Pinky Shashmal, whose father is a tea vendor at Liluah, and Bela Saha, whose father sells scrap.
After practice gets over, Runu, along with her fellow wrestlers, returns to her shared accommodation in the club, where she boils rice and makes dal and fish on her stove; fearing indigestion, outside food is not really an option either for her or her son.
Before Sakshi became her role model, Runu would idolise boxer Mary Kom from Manipur. “Both of us are in combat sports,“ she said. Just as it has been for Kom, Runu's never-say-die spirit comes in handy not only in competition but in life, too. Like Kom, who grew amid penury in Manipur, Runu has had a hard life. Not only did she have to fight poverty at her humble home in Howrah's Salap, she also had to struggle against resistance from society. “It is difficult for a girl, no matter what you try to do,“ Runu said.
In a jersey and shorts, Runu looks more like a rookie than the combative wrestling exponent and trainer that she is. But her list of achievements tells a different story , one of her biggest triumphs being tackling stereotypes head-on. Slogging it out in the wrestling ring might take up the lion's share of her day, but she loves visiting the salon, catch movies with her friends, and above all, raise her child. “The biggest hurdles are in our mind,“ Runu said.
It's, however, a hard and long way ahead: the ring demands the highest level of fitness and a diet that Runu, Pinky or Bela can't afford. The trickle of donations is gratefully accepted but isn't enough. But what they don't lack is inspiration. Runu, who hadn't stepped on a wrestling mat till 2010, is convinced if Sakshi could, she can too.