CHENNAI: Vinod Khandagale was into bodybuilding in his youth and used to train at a local gym named Digvijay Institute in Sangli, Maharashtra in the late 90s. During his days at the gym, he had seen people training for weightlifting at the place.
Born into a family who had been running a hair-cutting saloon for generations, Vinod had to leave bodybuilding and join his family's profession. Vinod might have given up his dream then but vowed that he would not let his children pursue the family profession. And he did exactly the same when admitted his elder son Yash at Digvijay Institute.
It was not easy as at times he struggled to make dietary arrangements for his son but the family, with some help from coach Mayur Sinhasane, managed to sail through the storm. It all came to fruition when Yash clinched a gold medal in the 65kg division in the junior category at the ongoing Commonwealth Championships in Ahmedabad on Tuesday.
"It's been our profession since generations so I always wanted my both sons — Yash and Vedant — to learn the basic skills but I never wanted them to take it up as a career," Vinod told this daily from Sangli. "Recently I renovated the shop and hired a man to help me but in the past I used to manage the shop alone. So sometimes when there were a lot of customers, Yash used to help me. He still does it if the queue is long," added Vinod.
Yash also competed at the Asian Championships in the junior category a few months ago but could not finish on the podium. The gold in Ahmedabad is his first international medal. Yash lifted 123kg in the snatch section and heaved 150kg in clean and jerk making an overall weight of 273kg to finish on the top.
The medal might be his first in an international event but Yash has been finishing on the podium in his age group since last year. He won gold (67kg category) both in junior and youth category during the 2024 Senior, Junior and Youth National Championships. He followed it up with another gold in the 2025 Khelo India Youth Games. He was selected for the 2025 National Games as well but had to skip the event due to his class XII examinations.
"Yash's family sacrificed a lot to make him a weightlifter," said coach Mayur. "The revision in the weight categories by the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) from June this year meant Yash started competing in the 65kg. It's not easy to adapt to the new weight category but Yash managed it and it showed during his performance in Ahmedabad," added the coach.
Apart from Vinod, his wife Asha also runs a beauty parlour from home to make ends meet. The father said he used to save a portion of his daily earnings for Yash's diet. "Mayur sir used to give us the diet chart. Given his workload, Yash needed a good diet including non-vegetarian food like chicken. A meat seller in Sangli knew me and was also aware that my son pursues weightlifting, so he gave me a concession. But there were days when the daily earnings were not enough but we used to manage as we never compromised with Yash's diet," said the father.
Vinod is a relieved man as Yash has now pocketed his first international medal. His next mission is to make his second son a successful chess player. "Vedant plays chess. I really hope both of them make our dream true by shining in their respective sports," signed off a proud father.
Meanwhile, Manipur weightlifter Rishikanta Singh Chanambam also medalled in the 60kg senior category.