Thanks to the euphoria over his bronze medal, gymnast Ashish Kumar had no time to call even his mother Asha, who coaxed him to pursue his sporting dreams

Ashish Kumar has no time to call his mother

Thanks to the euphoria over his bronze medal, gymnast Ashish Kumar had no time to call even his mother Asha, who coaxed him to pursue his sporting dreams

Ashish Kumar

Ashish did the country proud when he clinched the bronze medal in the men's floor exercises final yesterday. However, such has been the hysteria over his podium-finish that he hasn't been able to share his joy with the one person who is responsible for it all - his mother, Asha.

"I've been hounded by everyone soon after winning the medal. First, it was the dope officials, then my teammates and officials and now, the media. The frenzy is crazy. I've not even had a minute to call my family ufffd more so my mother ufffd to share the great news with her," Ashish told MiD DAY yesterday.

He clinched the bronze with an aggregate of 14.92 behind gold medallists Chenglong Zhang of China and South Korean Soo Myun Kim, who finished with an identical scoreline of 15.40.

Given up
In fact, had it not been for Ashish's mother, Asha, the 19-year-old would have given up on the sport long ago. "I was introduced to gymnastics by my elder brother at the age of four at the National Sports Institute in Allahabad.

"But as I grew and saw the amount of hardwork the sport demanded, I was in two minds whether I should give it up or not. Results were hard to come by and the 4 am training everyday became even more frustrating as I would see my brothers and cousins (they live in a joint family) snoring away to glory as I went for training," he explained. That's when the first lady in his life played an important role. "Dad was busy with work - he is a railway employee - so my mother was the one at home coaxing me to continue with gymnastics. The sport is a rage back home and my mother wanted me to make a name for myself in it," he added.

Fortunately for Mrs Kumar, her son has done India proud for the second time. He won silver and a bronze at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi recently and has now made it to the podium in the Asiad. Sadly, her son is yet to gauge her reaction. "They will be singing and dancing back home. I can't wait to call them up. Hopefully, I will speak to them before going to bed," he said last evening.

As for the celebrations, "It's my birthday on November 26 so I will throw a combined party," he signed off.

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