It takes a village: How Manisha Bhanwala rose from Siwaha’s narrow lanes to top of the world | More sports News
JIND: In India, villages make champions. Daughters of the soil, sons too, emerging from all corners, remote and close, carrying the dreams of a nation. For Manisha Bhanwala, that journey began in Siwaha, a village in Haryana‘s Jind district, the narrow lanes of which now lead to the doorstep of a world champion. Late on Friday in Kazakhstan’s Astana, Manisha became India’s first-ever woman world champion in wrestling, that ancient Indian sport.Despite its proximity to the Capital, locating Siwaha – a modest village with around 4,500 registered voters – can prove a challenge. The routemap app, a global go-to, probably found its Everest in trying to locate it once the vehicle turned off the Jind-Panipat highway. A million reroutes later, once inside the village, there was no need for navigation. Ask anyone for the world champion’s house, and enthusiastic children or youngsters on motorbikes happily escorted you to her doorstep. The modest two-storey house, tucked inside a narrow lane, has become a landmark.Outside, Manisha’s maternal uncle Nanha sat on a tractor, tending to the family’s cattle in between entertaining the frequent stream of visitors. After a quick request to secure the family dog, we were escorted inside to find Manisha’s mother, Meena Devi, and uncle, wrestling coach Vinod Kumar, soaking in the moment on a charpai.“It feels as though everything has suddenly changed. Before her world championship triumph, hardly anyone visited our home,” Meena says simply, the pride quietly evident, “Now, relatives, friends and villagers from neighbouring areas keep coming to congratulate us. Journalists have been visiting. Our daughter has brought recognition to the family and the village. She has made the country proud.”Amid all the noise, what awaits the world champion in her little corner at home?“Kadhi chaawal, her favourite, along with pointed-gourd curry and our special homemade chutney,” Meena smiled. “There is one little secret, too. She loves sweetened tea, even though sugar is not ideal for athletes. I will make it for her. Home-cooked food is waiting.”
It takes a village, and a mother’s sacrifices shaped that journey. Initially, Manisha’s father, Suresh wanted her to lose weight through sport. Meena even learnt wrestling herself so she could accompany her daughter to the Nidani academy and help when sparring partners were unavailable.Nanha attended to the family’s cattle as Vinod, uncle Chand Ram and cousins Jatin, Lakshya, Mohit, Priyanshu and Suryansh joined in. “Manisha was introduced to sport around 2008-09. Her late father Suresh initially enrolled her in kabaddi at the Nidani sports school near our village. She gradually developed an interest in wrestling after watching me coach,” recalled Vinod.“After her initial training, she moved to an academy in Samar Gopalpur village in Rohtak, run by the late coach Devilal. That was where her wrestling journey began taking shape.”The mention of their father, Suresh, and the courtyard fell silent. Manisha was preparing for the 2022 Asian Championships when he passed away. She had promised him a medal. She returned with bronze.For the world championships, elder brother Rinku suggested she carry their father’s photograph on her phone. Manisha wanted something more personal: a specially designed jersey featuring her father’s photograph on the front and a family photograph on the back. “She wanted him with her,” Meena said,.Now, as the family awaits Manisha’s return, Rinku struggles to describe the transformation. “It feels as though our entire family has been reborn. People who rarely visited are coming to congratulate us. Her achievement has brought recognition to all of us,” he said.It is the elder brother who has stood by her like a rock. Nobody perhaps understands the sacrifices behind Manisha’s gold better than Rinku. “I accompanied her to Samar Gopalpur, where I continued playing kabaddi while she trained in wrestling. Since I had been involved in sport longer, she would discuss every little detail with me,” he said.In 2017, Rinku suffered a ligament tear during a circle-kabaddi competition in Mandora village, Sonipat. Two or three surgeries followed, but his sporting career never recovered. “I had to give up kabaddi. But I made a promise to myself that whatever I could not achieve as an athlete, I would try to fulfil through Manisha. I wanted to see her become a world champion,” he said.That year, Manisha joined the Sashastra Seema Bal under the sports quota and trained at Chhotu Ram Akhara in Rohtak under coach Mandeep. Eventually, she quit the job because it left insufficient time for training. A subsequent Haryana govt sports-quota appointment as a coach at the same akhara allowed her to pursue wrestling while guiding younger trainees. The pursuit came with the personal cost, that all athletes are familiar with. Today, it all seems to have borne fruit.Siwaha’s narrow lanes may still confuse Google Maps. But one address needs no directions now: the home of a daughter who carried her father’s promise, her brother’s dreams and her village’s pride all the way to the top of the world.
