A day by day wage labourer’s son from an impoverished village in Uttar Pradesh, Asian Games bronze medallist race walker Ram Baboo’s journey from penury to fame is a captivating story of a strong-willed man making his personal future. Baboo, who gained a 35km race stroll combined crew bronze medal within the Asian Games together with Manju Rani, labored as a waiter to self-finance his athletics coaching and joined his father in highway building beneath MGNREGA scheme through the COVID-19 lockdown, as his household was hard-pressed. “I have done everything possible in my life so far, from working as a waiter in Varanasi to digging up pits along with my father for road construction under MGNREGA scheme at our village,” the 24-year-old Baboo advised PTI in an interview.

“It’s about determination and focus on your goal. If you are determined to achieve, you will find ways to reach your goal. That is what I did.” Baboo’s father works as guide labourer at Behura village at UP’s Sonbhadra district, incomes Rs 3000 to 3500 per 30 days which isn’t sufficient to run a household of six. Baboo is the one son whereas he has three sisters. His mom is a homemaker and typically helps her husband in his work.

“We don’t have any land and my father is a labourer. His work is seasonal. During paddy season, he will have more work but in other months his income is less. So, I need to do all these things to realise my dream,” he stated.

“I was not good at studies and not interested also and so I wanted to make a career in sports.” Due to his mom’s insistence, Baboo took the doorway examination for Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya (JNV) close to his house and acquired chosen. He was admitted to class VI.

Baboo discovered it robust to observe what was being taught on the college and he started to lose curiosity in research. Two years into the JNV stint, one thing made him resolve on his future plan of action in direction of his aim — the 2012 Olympics — the place India gained six medals.

“I was in class VII then and I watched at my school hostel television the likes of Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal, Sushil Kumar and Gagan Narang winning medals. The stories also came out in newspaper front pages the next day, and I read all of them.

“In reality, I stored cuttings of the newspaper articles and photographs of the 2012 Olympics medal winners and stored them in my folder.” When he was at the JNV, he played all sports, including football, and he found out that he did not get easily tired even after a lot of running, unlike the other students. That was when he decided he would do long distance running.

He initially ran marathons, 10000m and 5000m but developed knee pain. On the advice of local coach Pramod Yadav, he later shifted to race walking which does not put too much pressure on his knees.

Baboo might have been born to semi-illiterate parents but he used social media to his advantage.

“I opened a fb account and joined a number of FB teams referring to health and lengthy distance operating to search out out who can assist me in my endeavour.” In 2017, when he was around 17 years old, Baboo left for Varanasi where there is a proper athletics stadium and there he got in touch with coach Chandrabahan Yadav.

He took a rented house at Rs 1500 a month. His parents sent him a small amount of money and so he worked part-time as a waiter for one month.

“I acquired Rs 3000 per 30 days for working as a waiter however they made me work until midnight and even at 1am. I needed to stand up at 4am for coaching on the stadium. It was very tough for me. People didn’t respect me and misbehaved with me. So I left Varanasi and returned house.” In 2019, Baboo was able to convince a coach at Bhopal SAI Centre to take him under his wings. He then competed in the 50km event at the National Race Walk Championships in February 2020, just before the nation-wide COVID-19 lockdown, and finished fourth.

During the lockdown, the Bhopal SAI Centre was shut and Baboo returned home. His parents were finding it difficult to get work to survive.

“Luckily, we acquired work beneath the MGNREGA scheme and I helped my father in digging pits in highway building work. One individual would get Rs 300 to 400 per day relying on the quantity of labor,” he said.

After working for one and a half months under the MGNREGA scheme, Baboo became restless, and he left for Bhopal again.

In February 2021, he won a 50km race walk silver medal in the National Race Walk Championships and that paved the way for his entry into the Army Sports Institute in Pune with the help of coach Basant Rana.

After the World Athletics decided to remove the 50km event from its programme, Baboo shifted to 35km event and won gold in the National Open Championships in September 2021, and a few months later, he was called to the national camp in Bengaluru.

After winning gold in 35km at the National Games last year with national record time, Baboo got a job in the Army, and he is a havildar now.

“My age at the moment was 11 months greater than that within the eligibility standards however I acquired exemption after profitable the National Games gold. I’m at present beneath probation until subsequent month and I get round Rs 10000, which is the fundamental pay.

“After this, I will get full salary and I will be able to look after my parents properly.” Rambabu, resident of Bhairava Gandhi of Bahuara Gram Panchayat of Sonbhadra district, belongs to a really poor household.

His mom Meena Devi advised PTI that her son had the need to attain one thing since childhood.

“There is an atmosphere of happiness in the entire village and district due to his success in the Asian Games. However, Rambabu has struggled a lot to reach here,” she stated.

“He needed better training to advance in his career but it was very difficult for the family to afford an academy. Despite all the difficulties, Rambabu’s father Chhotalal decided to enroll him in the academy and bore the expenses by working as a labourer.” To fulfill her son’s dream, Devi herself has offered khoya (milk mawa) within the close by Madhupur market, she stated.

“We do not have any agricultural land, so my husband works as an agricultural labourer,” she added.

His two elder sisters Pooja and Kiran are married whereas youthful sister Suman is a primary yr engineering scholar in Prayagraj. Baboo stated that he’ll shift to 20km race stroll from subsequent season because the combined crew occasion is unpredictable as a result of the mixed timing of female and male opponents of a rustic is considered for medal.

“You never know, my colleague (woman race walker) may not be able to do well on a particular day, she may be sick but still taking part or she may be disqualified during the competition. All these are not in my hands.

“So, I’m shifting to a 20km occasion from subsequent yr.”