Daijiworld Media Network - Belagavi (SHP)

Belagavi, Aug 13: A student of Class 12, Nishan Manohar Kadam (19), from Mannur village in Belagavi district of Karnataka is a state-level boxer. Kadam, who won silver medal earlier in the month at a championship, was looking forward to attending another event. However, with the floods that wreaked havoc in the past week, Kadam and his father found it impossible to make it to the event. On August 7, Kadam had to catch a train to Bengaluru to participate in the wrestling event, unfortunately, because of the floods around his home, all three roads connecting his village were submerged and damaged.

Look into the eye of the storm, Kadam and his father decided to beat the odds. The father and son duo decided to swim across with Kadam's boxing kit wrapped in a plastic bag. They swam for over 45 minutes in which they covered 2.5 km. The duo was successful in reaching the spot where Kadam could join the Belagavi district team.

Three days later, Kadam won silver in his category at the event held in Bengaluru. Expressing his joy, Kadam said, "I was waiting for this event and did not want to miss it at any cost. It is unfortunate I lost the gold, next year, I will surely work harder to win the gold."

Gajendra S Tripathi, team manager stated the situation has been difficult since the past few days and many parents have restricted their children from taking part in event.

“It is risky to travel, many parents did not allow their kids to come. Even Nishan missed practice for many days but when he heard about the championship, he said he had to be there. He told us he would swim across so we arranged to pick him up from the nearest motorable road," Tripathi said.

"Despite the hardships, the boy performed well in all the rounds of the event," said Sai Satish N, secretary, Karnataka Amateur Boxing Association.

The event had over 248 participants representing 19 teams in six different categories in a three-day event that concluded on Sunday.