When an old woman, wearing an Indian jersey and wearing a number of medals around her neck, stepped on the soil of her country, hundreds of people welcomed her with drums, garlanded her with flowers. The woman who performed traditional Haryanvi dance with great simplicity to the beat of drum was Bhagwan Devi, who put India’s name on the sports map of the world with a golden stamp.
Bhagwani Devi has accomplished a special feat at the age of 94. She returned with three medals from the Finland World Masters Athletics Championships. He performed brilliantly not only in the 100m race, but also in the shot put and javelin throw. She won the gold medal in the 100 meters race, while she managed to win the bronze medal in both the other events.
Overjoyed with her achievement, Bhagwani Devi tells that she decided to participate in the race after seeing her grandson. Bhagwani Devi stepped into the world of sports after seeing her grandson Vikas Dagar. His grandson Vikas Dagar is an international para athlete and has participated in many international events. Vikas told that his grandmother often used to watch his medals very carefully and also used to discuss it with him.
According to Vikas, seeing his grandmother’s instincts, he and his father decided to pursue his hobby and started giving him general running training. He said that given his age, it was not possible to give him heavy or formal training, as he feared injury. So he was motivated to do light exercise and run properly. Apart from this, he also started practicing in shot throw and javelin throw.
Bhagwani Devi tells that she used to walk a lot anyway, but when it came to running and training, she started running two to three kilometers in the morning and started exercising. She tells that in a day she climbs all the stairs two or three times in the four-storey house and goes around her locality two or three times.
Seeing his preparation, he was given an opportunity to participate in the 100 meter race, discus throw and javelin throw events of Delhi State Athletics Championship and he performed brilliantly by winning three gold medals. He then went on to compete in the National Masters Athletics event held in Chennai earlier this year and qualified for the World Masters Athletics Championships to be held in Finland with gold success in all three events. There he competed with his peers in the competition in the age group of 90-95 years. The same story was repeated there and this grandmother of Haryana became the star of the news media and social media of the country.