Weightlifting
A perfect Guru Purnima gift from Mirabai Chanu to coach Vijay Sharma
Vijay Sharma has been working with Mirabai Chanu for the past seven years.
Mirabai Chanu with coach Vijay Sharma
Whenever any athlete reaches great heights in their career, they, quite deservedly, get all the media attention and laurels. But, the one who guided them there gets lost somewhere amidst all the chaos.
While we appreciate the athletes for their performance, it is equally important that we do not forget their coaches, who also have put in all their sweat and blood to see their ward succeed.
As India's star weightlifter, Saikhom Mirabai Chanu, stood on the podium today after clinching the silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and the entire nation erupted with her, one man watched it all silently from a corner – Vijay Sharma, the coach of the Olympic silver medallist.
Vijay Sharma has been working with Mirabai Chanu for the past seven years. He came on board as the coach of the Manipuri girl in the year 2014, and it has been quite a remarkable journey so far.
Mirabai was just starting out then at the highest level. In fact, 2014 was the year when she first left a mark on the Indian sports fans, winning a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Almost all the major achievements of the 26-year-old at the international stage has come under the tutelage of Vijay Sharma.
It was under the guidance of Vijay Sharma that Mirabai Chanu failed horrendously at the 2016 Rio de Olympics, and it was under his training that she was crowned the World Champion the following year.
The duo has come a long way since they first started working together. They have seen it all together. From Mirabai's debacle at Rio to her tryst with injuries, they have tackled it all as one single unit.
Seven years is a very long time, and for them to trust each other and stick by for so long is a pretty huge thing in itself.
"All he said to me during the event today was to play as I do in training," Mirabai said in an SAI interaction about the conversation she had with her coach during her road to the medal.
It is Guru Purnima today – a day where Hindus and Buddhists worship their teachers.
And there could not have been a better gift from Saikhom Mirabai Chanu to her guru, Vijay Sharma, on this auspicious day.
After all, not many gift an Olympic medal to their coach on Guru Purnima.
