Daughter of a roadside tea stall owner, 13-yo Pooja Chauhan is a Taekwondo champ

Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh

Pooja Chauhan is fresh from a win at the State Level Taekwondo Competition in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, held in June this year, where the 13-year-old won a silver medal.

Daughter of a tea-seller, Pooja lives in a dingy house, reinforced with bamboo and polythene sheets to keep the dust and rainwater out, just outside the main gate of the ancient Anandeswar temple in Kanpur, about 100 kilometres from the state capital Lucknow.

A life of poverty and struggle hasn’t stopped the teenager from dreaming big in life. Waking or sleeping, the student of class eight at the Kanpur Nursery Junior Higher Secondary School, dreams but one dream — to become a top notch athlete.

Just outside her kaccha home, her father, Satish Kumar Chauhan, runs a tea stall and sells biscuits and wafers, the sole earning source of the family. Despite his poor financial situation, the 48-year-old father is leaving no stone unturned to help her daughter realise her dream.

“My income from the tea stall is just enough to run my family — my wife and three children. I sell bread, biscuits and tea and on a good day, when there is some special occasion in the temple, I manage to earn about Rs 600 - Rs 700. Otherwise it is no more than Rs 400 a day,” Satish Chauhan told Gaon Connection.

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It was at his tea stall nine years ago, in 2014, that Pooja first dreamt of donning the white dress of Taekwondo champion. Of course, the little girl, all of four years then, didn’t know what the sport was all about.

“I was about four years old when I would sit outside while my father worked at the tea stall. And, every morning a bunch of children, all dressed in white, would pass by,” Pooja told Gaon Connection. Curious, Pooja asked her father where the children were going. She learnt that they were athletes who were going to the nearby Green Park to practise their sports.

That was in 2014, and ever since Pooja has held on to her dream of becoming a sports person too.

“In 2014, I joined Taekwondo classes at Green Park, and the following year in 2015, I participated in the circle level Taekwondo competition. The very next year, in 2016, I won the gold in the same event,” said Pooja.

Since then she has participated in Taekwondo events in several states such as Uttarakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, and Delhi.

Pooja has no coach to train her, but that has not stopped her from practising tirelessly in a small park near her home. In June this year, she won the silver medal at the state level championships.

Pooja’s family couldn’t be happier. But, there is the constant lurking worry of not being able to keep her in sports because of lack of money to find her a good coach and feed her nutritious food.

Pooja’s father is fully aware that his daughter needs a high calorie nutritious diet to keep her at the top of her game.

“I should ideally consume dry fruits, plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables,” said Pooja. But with just enough to feed a family of five, her father has to borrow money even to send Pooja to the various competitive events.

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Pooja’s elder brother Akash was also a keen cricketer. “I wanted to play cricket for the country, but our financial situation did not allow it,” the 24-year-old told Gaon Connection. He dropped out of studies after his Intermediate (class 10) and began to help his father in his tea stall.

Despite all the challenges and lack of financial stability of her family, Pooja has been sweeping in the medals, and she has an impressive haul of them.

In 2016, she won a gold in the Kanpur Divisional Level Taekwondo Competition.

In 2017 she repeated the win.

In 2017 she won a gold in the National Taekwondo competition held at Jaipur.

In 2018 she won the silver at the National Taekwondo championships in Jaipur.

In 2019 she participated in the National Challenge Sub Junior Taekwondo Competitions in Telangana.

In 2019 she won the silver in the Third Aryan Cup National Taekwondo competition in Delhi.

Pooja’s former coach in Green Park, Sushant Gupta, was all praises for Pooja’s grit and determination. “I am confident that with just a bit of financial support, Pooja has it in her to win accolades for the country. I have seen her focus and hard work. She has often told me that she wants to bring glory to the country, just like Mary Kom did,” Gupta told Gaon Connection.

When Pooja won her medals, her father approached many officials asking for some help. “I wrote to corporation officials, the sports ministry, the office of the chief minister, and the prime minister himself, but we have received no response from anyone,” he said, dejected.

Meanwhile Satish Chauhan and his wife swing between pride and despair as the flimsy shelter they call home is in danger of collapsing.

“During the rains we stay awake all night. We are grateful that the trustees of the temple have allowed us to live in this space, but I have no means to make it a strong safe home for my family,” said Satish. “I want to fulfil my daughter’s dreams, but…,” he trailed off.