Even with her innate potential of becoming a world-class runner, career of Bhimeshwari Thakur, a budding athlete from a rural hamlet of Balod, may end in the nascent stage owing to paucity of resources and support. Hailing from a small village of Manod, Bhimeshwari Thakur, daughter of a marginal farmer Timanlal Thakur, is the top-most runner in Chhattisgarh in 5,000 metres, 10000 metres and cross country events. In her short career of around 3 years, Bhimeshwari represented Chhattisgarh at national-level events in Pune, Bengaluru, Rajasthan and Punjab. She secured gold medals in National School Games in Rajasthan and Cross Country in Gujarat. She outran her competitors on a race track, but she couldn’t outrun her circumstances without the support of her poverty-stricken family and government.

 

Bhimeshwari’s father does petty labour jobs to make ends meet and it is beyond his means to support the sporting career of her daughter even he wants it by all his heart. Regardless of all the shortcomings, Bhimeshwari still managed to win so many medals at both state and national events. Bhimeshwari’s coach Paras Yadav told ‘The Hitavada’ that the girl has immense talent and can make it big, but the circumstances are pulling her back. Bhimeshwari Thakur said that she has two-brothers and her elder brother, in particularly, hasn’t been very supportive of her. Her parents have given up and now want her to hang up the boot. They want her to settle down by getting married. Bhimeshwari also went to take coaching at a place called Dasna in Punjab, but left disappointed with an injured knee.

 

It took her over a year to recover from the knee issue as she couldn’t afford a good sports physician. She has to resort to home remedies and return from Punjab by shunning her training. Also, the training center was fraught with several issues such as improper food, which is the most crucial part of any athlete’s training. Bhimeshwari also attempted for jobs with the Police and Forest Department, but always got rejection for one reason or another. She couldn’t even approach a public representative or an officer who could arrange her enlistment in training programmes of Sports Authority of India (SAI). Bhimeshwari is presently preparing for College Games in Chhattisgarh, but a constant pressure is building upon her to give up. Her biggest race is against the poverty and family pressure, against which she may or may not overcome; it all depends on the support of Government, Bhimeshwari resentfully said.