Father of Delhi’s teen sprint star Nisar Ahmed pedals rickshaw, mother works at homes

15-year-old Nisar Ahmed brought home a special gift. On Saturday, the sprinter bagged his second gold at the Delhi State Athletics meet.

Nisar | Gold Runner | Sprint Runner

On way to winning the sprint double — 100m and 200m — he clocked timings that were better than the national u-16 records. The teen star also became the capital’s fastest. Since his 11s over 100m was 0.02s faster than the state men’s winner this year.

“We really want to see him run, but for that we need to sacrifice a day’s income and that’s not something we can afford. We know all about his races,” says Haq. Known as Nanku among those who hire him to transport construction material to building sites.

Ahmed lives in a tiny 10×10 feet room next to the railway tracks at Azadpur’s Bada Bagh slum. A small slab in one corner of the room serves as a makeshift kitchen. A tiny vent, where a small cooler is mounted, is the only source of ventilation for the room which Ahmed shares with his parents and an elder sister. There is a TV in one corner and neatly arranged trophies, including one for the 2015 School National Games where Ahmed was declared best athlete.

“He is very dedicated and hardworking. The amount of effort he puts into everything is something even I can’t do,” says Haq, before leaving to get drinking water for the family, adding that at the community taps, the slum-dwellers follow a token system.

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