THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As Sajan Prakash walked to the victory stand to receive his fifth individual gold medal, his mother Shantymol inanimately watched the proceedings. As the home crowd gave a thundering applause and the commentator went berserk, Shantymol looked the other way and whispered to herself. “This will only last for a few seconds. After that, it’s him and me who are to manage things.” Shantymol has been bankrolling Sajan’s training for some time.
Though Sajan was handed a job as an inspector in Kerala Police after he had garnered 6 golds in the 2015 National Games, he has been awaiting his salary for the last 22 months. The reason is that Sajan is yet to complete the mandatory police training as he has been training at the FINA centre in Bangkok from May 2015 to December 2017. Though Sajan has been included in the Sports Ministry’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme, it’s Shantymol that he falls back whenever there is a fund shortage.
“This sport is quite expensive. At the elite level, swimming demands a lot of facilities and for that money is required,” she said. An employee of Neyveli Lignite Corporation, Shantymol is not averse to spending on her son. She had spent more than two lakhs on Sajan’s Dubai trip so that he could train with his coach S Pradeep Kumar. Prior to that, she had to shell out a couple of lakhs for Sajan’s training stint in South Africa. What frightens her is this thought: “How long can I carry on like this?” The trip to Dubai to Thiruvananthapuram (and back) for the National Championships, as well as Sajan’s expenses during the event, has set Shantymol back by several thousands.
All the State Aquatic Association had promised was a daily allowance of less than `500 a day, which the proud lady was not willing to accept. Sajan has been striking it rich for a number of years now. When the National Games happened, he was 21. Now he is approaching 25. This time, he penned records in all the five individual events he competed in. Yet support is not coming in, at least not in proportion to his good show. Though Shantymol, who was an athlete during her youth, runs pillar to post to ensure that Sajan gets things he is badly in need of, there are times when her efforts too fall short.
An example is the quality, branded supplements that proswimmers need for recovery and build up. Sajan, at times, has to make do with whatever is at his disposal. As darkness began to descend over the pool complex, Shantymol scurried back to the place where Sajan had kept his bag. “He has his medal in it,” she said. Till a few months ago, there were reports that Sajan was going to sell his medals to foot his training expenses.