What must it feel like to hold a national record for Shot Put in a country that doesn’t even know about the game?

What must it feel like to hold a national record for Shot Put in a country that doesn’t even know about the game? At the young age of 17, our Olympian, Om Prakash Karhana, left basketball to give shot put a try. While studying in the Shimla Army School, OP didn’t even know what shot put was. However, OP’s coach in school saw something in him and advised him to take up the sport. And so he did, and went on to distinguish himself when he created quite a stir with a record throw of 19.36 m (the national record was 20.48 m at that point) to win the Junior National Games!

OP, who wasn’t sure of taking up shot put at first, built a passion towards the sport and went on to break the national record with his 20.69 m throw in May 2012. It was a tough decision for OP, who came from a middle-class household and had to support himself with a job at ONGC, to pick sports over academics. “What plagues Indian sports is the fact that sports are considered secondary at the school level, while in the West, schools have world-class sporting facilities and groom the interested students from a young age,” OP pointed out in an interview. But, once OP stepped onto the field, there was no stopping him. He won three Asian Grand Prix in a row and excelled at most international competitions.

OP was very confident of winning a medal at Rio in 2012. “I was very sure of winning but just before the Olympics I injured myself,” a disheartened OP told Impact Guru. He underwent months of depression and thought his career had ended but that’s when his current coach, Bhupender Singh, stepped in and put him back into action. His only dream now is to win a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics 2020.

OP currently trains 6-7 hours every day under the tutelage of Bhupender Singh to cross the 22m mark which he feels will better his chances at Tokyo 2020. With his background, training, skill and a consistent winning record, he can easily be India’s hope to win its first gold in shot put!

Here’s how you can empower OP:

1) Fund OP’s training, nutrition, costumes and travel costs by contributing generously to this fundraiser

2) Share the fundraiser with your friends and family on social media, Whatsapp or email

3) Start a Support Fundraiser to pool in money from your friends, family, colleagues and others in your network

Empower our record-breaking shot putter!

Article Source: Impact Guru