Gold medallist Lokesh Kumar reveals his struggle to maintain athlete’s diet; Read on

National gold medallist sprinter from Delhi, Lokesh Kumar, recently expressed that he struggles financially to make end meets. Lokesh, who bagged a gold medal in the 200m sprint race during a national championship in April this year, admitted during a conversation with ANI that his family doesn’t make enough money to provide him with the basic facilities for training. He mentioned that while his mother worked as a housemaid, his father works on daily wages as a rickshaw puller. This makes it tough for him to maintain the proper diet required for an athlete.

As per the news agency, the young sprinter expressed his struggles with money by talking about his family and their work. Talking about his family’s financial condition, Lokesh Kumar said, “My father is a rickshaw puller and mother used to work as a maid in bungalows, my mother's earning is around 2,500 per month and father earns on a daily basis so there is specific monthly earning, if we get food at one time there is no guarantee that we will get a meal on the next day, an athlete needs proper diet for his game but I fail to get that, but with the help of my coach I have dry fruits to eat and he also provides me some necessary things to eat but I am not able to get a proper diet.”

Can't afford to cut down my travel budget: Lokesh Kumar

The sprinter has to do a lot of travelling in order to practice, which has an impact on his routine including his training and practice. While speaking about his struggle to have a proper diet, Lokesh said, “I have to travel from far and I also need to spend money in order to have proper milk intake so I have to cut my travel budget which I can't afford to so I cut down on my milk intake and I drink warm water as a substitute,” as quoted by the news agency. Meanwhile, Vipin Lohit, the coach of Lokesh praised the athlete for his dedication and backed him by saying he is sure that the sprinter will overcome all odds in order to make a name for himself.

(With inputs from ANI)

(Image: ANI)