Inspired by father's unfinished journey, Anushka Yadav smashes national hammer throw record

LUCKNOW: In Baleni village of Baghpat district, a real-life story reminiscent of the movie Dangal has unfolded through 18-year-old hammer thrower Anushka Yadav. The younger daughter of Sushil Yadav, a former school-level hammer thrower whose own sporting dream ended after he was married off at the age of 18, Anushka has transformed her father's unfulfilled ambition into a national achievement.

Coached by her father, Anushka shattered the women's national hammer throw record with a 67.02m effort at the National Inter-State Championships at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday, earning a berth for the Asian Games, to be held in Nagoya, Japan, in Sept-Oct. Anushka has now set her sights on Asian Games gold and the 70m mark after producing a massive personal-best throw that has established her as one of India's brightest medal prospects.

"I am aiming to win gold at the upcoming Asian Games and hoping to cross the 70m mark," Anushka said. "All the credit goes to my father, Sushil Kumar, who started training me when I was 12. My father was a hammer thrower himself, but he had to quit the sport after marrying at a young age.

He introduced me to the event and trained me alongside my younger brother at the government college ground in our village." Anushka improved her personal best by more than four metres, eclipsing her previous mark of 62.89m, which had earned her the gold medal at last year's National Games.

Her latest performance also helped her breach the Athletics Federation of India's Asian Games qualifying mark of 61.72m, giving her Asian Games ticket. Her rise has come from the sugarcane fields of western Uttar Pradesh. The farmer's daughter balanced training with farm work, often helping her father during the sugarcane harvest and even driving a tractor to plough the fields. Farm life also brought an unexpected setback earlier this year when Anushka suffered a knee ligament injury while operating a tractor.

"Luckily, my recovery did not take long, but I started my season a little late because of the injury,” she said.

"She credited her success to her father, along with senior athletes Gagan Yadav and Chirag Yadav. 'The trio helped me a lot in fine-tuning my hammer throw skills,' she said." Talking to TOI, Sushil Kumar Yadav, who once dreamt of becoming a successful hammer thrower himself, said his early marriage forced him to leave the sport. "I have three brothers. My younger brother died at an early age, while my elder brother serves in the Army as a JCO. My father therefore decided to get me married when I was 18, and I had to quit the sport," Sushil said. "But deep down, I always wanted to see my son become an international hammer thrower."But somewhere in my heart, I had a deep desire to make my son an international hammer thrower. But I'm proud that Anushka fulfilled my dream, and she has now become a role model for her younger brother," he added.