She sails a boat: Farmer after daughter wins Asiad team bronze

BHOPAL: The word of their paddler daughter winning bronze at the ongoing Japan Asian Games did not arrive with the usual celebratory drum rolls and exchange of sweets at this humble home in Mahudia, a small village 50 km from the Madhya Pradesh capital, Bhopal.Rather, Chander Singh, father of Sheetal Verma, who paired up with state-mate Harshita Tomar to clinch the bronze medal in the women’s skiff (49erFX) sailing event in Aichi-Nagoya on Thursday, received the news of his daughter’s moment of triumph with an almost disarming simplicity. “Meri bitiya nav chalatee hai. Isse zyada mujhe uske khel kee baare mein nahee pataa (All I know is that my daughter sails a boat. Other than this, I don’t know much about this sport),” Chander said as TOI broke the news to him.He then quietly withdrew to his fields, trying his best to keep the flood of emotions inside him in check.Chander, 48, toils hours tilling the four bighas of land he owns. While he dropped out of school after the fifth grade, his wife, Sunita Bai, never attended one. They have rarely left their village, but their daughter has been competing for the flag on foreign shores, with her latest quest for glory taking her across the Pacific, as a member of India’s Asiad sailing contingent.“I seldom step out of my village, but my daughter frequently travels abroad,” Chander said, “As a father, could there be a greater moment of triumph for me?”Sheetal, 20, is the third of four siblings born to a humble household. Exactly five years before she lived her dream in the still waters of Kaiyoh Yacht Harbor in Aichi, she had joined the Madhya Pradesh Sailing Academy in Bhopal with a clear goal to put her country on the podium.On Thursday, Sheetal, in the able company of Harshita, a native of MP’s Narmadapuram district, sailed the women’s skiff fearing they might fall short of a podium finish. In fact, when the Indian pair crossed the finish line, they believed they had finished fourth. The provisional standings concurred, as Japan was adjudged to have won gold, Hong Kong, China silver, and China bronze.However, Lady Luck smiled on the Indian pair after Xiaoyu Hu and Yuyue Sun, the Chinese duo who finished third, were disqualified. The Chinese pair dropped one place in the standings, while Sheetal and Harshita climbed to third, securing a bronze.The women’s skiff was decided by net points after the discard, the standard method applied in a multi-race fleet. Japan finished with 14 net points; Hong Kong, China, with 18 and India with 24 net points from 28 overall, securing the fourth place in the standings.China had 28 net points from 23 overall, sitting third, until the disqualification erased that advantage.The medal was won not through a photo-finish, a last-minute dash to the endpoint, but by a divine sleight of hand and a patient countback to lock the final standings.In Mahudiya, though, this distinction will not matter much. Chander Singh knows that his daughter sailed a boat and came home with something significant, a piece to treasure for a lifetime.You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Bhopal | Silver Rate in Bhopal | Bank Holidays in Bhopal | Public Holidays in Bhopal | Petrol Price in Bhopal | Diesel Price in Bhopal | CNG Price in Bhopal | LPG Price in BhopalStay updated with the latest Bhopal news. Download the TOI App.