This year, India finished 4th in the medal rankings at the Commonwealth Games, winning 39 medals. That’s a big deal. But what’s even more inspiring are the life stories of the athletes who won those medals.

Arshi Yasin from The Bridge sent me some of their stories, and they are incredible. Reading about the backgrounds these athletes come from, the adversity they had to face to get to where they are, is incredible. The fact that they never gave up when most would have and went on to win a medal is inspiring.

A few stories:

Asmita Dey: Her father ran a bicycle repair shop and was her biggest cheerleader. He passed away in December 2025. Just a few months later, she won gold in the women’s 48 kg judo event, India’s first-ever Commonwealth Games medal in the sport.

Sharmila Dhankar: She was left disabled by a wrong injection from a quack when she was two. She was married off at 19 into an abusive marriage and was once stripped naked in her village by her husband. At 26, she was thrown out of the house with her two children. It was her second husband who introduced her to para athletics. She has now won gold in the women’s F57 shot put, ending India’s 20-year wait for a Commonwealth Games medal in para athletics.

Dilip Gavit: He lost his arm as a child after a fall from a tree went untreated. His coach, Vaijnath Kale, spotted him in his village, adopted him, and trained him. Today, he is the first Indian to win Commonwealth Games gold in para track, in the men’s 100 m T47.

Rishikanta Singh: He worked as a daily wage labourer, earning just ₹150–200 a day, using that money to fund his weightlifting dream before eventually joining the Indian Army. He went on to win silver in the men’s 60 kg event.

And there are many more stories like these, whether they won a medal or not. These are stories that aren’t told today.

We often look to people who are popular on social media and elsewhere for inspiration. But I think these are the people we should really be looking up to. People who kept going despite unimaginable odds, with little support or recognition, in our cricket-obsessed nation.

This is also why we invested in The Bridge to bring stories like these to the forefront. There’s no shortage of such inspiring stories, and we need more people to tell them.

Here’s a short discussion with Arshi and Rahul from The Bridge on India’s performance at the Commonwealth Games and what they do.

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