WEB DESK
While India is celebrating its victory at Tokyo Olympics, it’s important to look back at the harsh reality of yesterday.
London Olympic 2012 torchbearer Pinky Karmakar has reportedly been working as labour in Assam tea garden. It seems she could not get any patronage from the and government or sport authorities.
Pinky Karmakar- India’s ‘torch bearer’ at the London Olympics in 2012 is now toiling as a daily-wage leaf plucker at Borborooah tea estate, earning Rs 167 a day.
“I had big dreams, but now there is nothing left to hope. After my mother’s death, I had to drop out of college due to acute financial hardship and start working as a labourer in the tea garden,” Pinky said in a report published in TOI.
Life has tossed into ignominy for Pinky, who represented India among 20 countries at the Olympic torch relay in Nottinghamshire in 2012. The 26-year-old is now the only bread earner for her family which includes- retired father, a younger brother and two sisters.
Also read: Tokyo Olympics: Neeraj Chopra 1 day after winning the Gold, ‘It feels unbelievable, It feels so good, extremely proud’
Indian athletic girl used to run Unicef’s Sports for Development (S4D) programme in her school and teach about 40 unlettered women every evening.
If this is the plight of Olympians, certainly it will not send good message to the upcoming sports persons