5 Indian star athletes who had terribly difficult childhoods

Not every person is born with a silver spoon in their mouth. It takes tremendous amount of hard work, dedication and patience to succeed in life. Excelling in sport follows the same rule. Many Indian athletes were not born to an affluent or a middle class family and had to strive for their goals in the midst of difficulties that life presents. They did not see those tough situations as an impediment, but as an opportunity to work even harder and achieve what they set out to. Here are 5 athletes who made the nation proud battling all odds.

#5 Deepika Kumari

Deepika Kumari

Deepika Kumari was born in Ranchi to Shivnarayan Mahato, an auto driver and Geeta Mahato, a nurse in Ranchi Medical college. She practised archery by hitting mangoes with stones as a child. The family found it difficult to support her training and often compromised on the family budget to make sure that she gets to train with the right equipment. During this tough phase, she practised archery using bamboo bows and arrows.

Deepika’s cousin Vidya Kumari, who was also an archer helped her with the game. All this effort paid off as she is one of the most successful archers in the world right now.

Her achievements:

2010 Commonwealth Games- Recurve Individual – Gold

2010 Commonwealth Games- Recurve team – Gold

2010 Asian Games – Recurve team – Bronze

2011 Istanbul World Cup – Silver

2012 Tokyo World Cup – Silver

2013 Shanghai World Cup – Silver

In 2014, Deepika was featured by Forbes (India) as one of their '30 under 30'.