Astana, Oct 30 When Manisha Bhanwala pulled out a white T-shirt bearing pictures of her parents and proudly displayed it to the spectators after winning the World Championships gold, it was much more than a celebration of a historic sporting triumph.
It was a daughter’s tribute to her late father whose dream she had carried for years.
For Manisha, India’s first woman wrestling world champion, the gold was not just the biggest medal of her career. It was the fulfilment of a family dream, particularly that of her father Suresh, who passed away in 2022, on the day she was to leave for the Asian Championships.
The wrestler from Jind in Haryana comes from a farming family where sport runs deep. Her brother Rinku is a kabaddi player, while her sister-in-law Mamta Sihag is also a wrestler. It was watching her brother play kabaddi in their village that first inspired Manisha to take up sports.
“We all played sports in the family. She used to watch me play kabaddi in the village and that inspired her. We then decided that she should take up an individual sport rather than a team game. She was physically strong and mental toughness was always her biggest strength,” Rinku told PTI.
But the road to the historic gold was not without heartbreak.
Rinku still vividly remembers the morning Manisha was supposed to leave for Mongolia for the Asian Championships. Their father had attended a ‘jagran’ the previous night and passed away in his sleep due to a cardiac arrest the following morning.
Manisha was deeply attached to her family and was shattered by the loss. She did not want to leave home and even contemplated giving up wrestling.
“She was preparing to leave, but our father passed away that very morning. He had attended a jagran and died in his sleep. She was so attached to all of us that she did not want to go.
“We had to tell her that all the efforts our father had made to make her a wrestling champion would go to waste if she gave up. We somehow convinced her to board the flight to Mongolia,” Rinku recalled.
Manisha eventually competed at the tournament and returned with a bronze medal. That was the beginning of a journey that would eventually take her to the top of the wrestling world. After that she won three more Asian medals, including a gold last year.
Before leaving for Astana, Manisha had another special preparation. She got a white T-shirt printed with photographs of her parents, carrying their memories with her to the biggest competition of her life.
“She had got the pictures of our parents printed on a white T-shirt before leaving for Astana. It was her determination that she would win gold and show that T-shirt to everyone. She did exactly that,” Rinku said.
“It was our family’s dream that she become a world champion, and today she has achieved it. This is even more special for our father. His dream and the dream of the entire family have come true,” he added.
When Manisha displayed that T-shirt after her stunning 8-6 comeback victory over American Abigail Nette in the final, she was bringing her father into a moment he had dreamed of but never got to witness.
From watching her brother play kabaddi in a village in Jind to becoming the first Indian woman wrestling world champion, Manisha’s journey has been one of family sacrifice, resilience and an unshakeable bond with her roots.
She switched weight categories several times — 62kg, 65kg and 57kg — but won the biggest prize of her career in the non-Olympic 59kg category, at the age of 29.
(PTI News)
