Fitness routine to top of podium: Chirag's journey

AROUND seven years ago, Dinesh Chhikara felt his 11-year-old son, Chirag, had been putting on weight.

- FIROZ MIRZA

He spoke to his brother, Virender Chhikara, about the matter and the duo decided to enroll Chirag in an akhada (wrestling academy) at their village, Juan in Sonepat district (Haryana). Despite the state being a powerhouse of wrestling, no one in the Chhikara household had pursued the sport before Chirag.

Understandably so, Chirag was reluctant to join the academy and had to be taken to the venue forcibly by his father or uncle. That continued for more than a week but once the boy made friends there, the academy eventually became his second home.

A journey that started to make Chirag healthy and fit witnessed a moment to remember for a lifetime on Sunday when the now 18-year-old freestyle wrestler became only the second male from the country to clinch a gold medal at the U23 World Championships in Tirana, Albania. "It all started to make Chirag fit as we felt he was gaining weight," Virender told this daily.