New Delhi: His name evokes mirth and mockery, and Jhandu Kumar is acutely aware of that. So much so, it has helped him acquire the rare ability to laugh at himself. “I know I have a funny name. What can I do?” he asked on Saturday, hours after opening India’s medal tally at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games with a para powerlifting bronze medal in the heavyweight (+72) division.
“You can either sulk at what life throws at you or make your way through with a smile. It’s always better with the latter,” he said on phone from Glasgow. Armed with that motto, an earnest smile, and some serious upper body strength, Jhandu, weighing 72.4kg, bench-pressed 190kg on his second attempt to collect 130.9 points at the Armadillo Arena to finish third. Nigeria’s Riluwan Idris took gold with 132.8 points while England’s Matthew Harding was second (131 pts).
At the CWG, para powerlifting medals are decided using a bodyweight coefficient formula called pDOTS rather than the weight lifted alone. That’s because athletes from different bodyweights compete together in the lightweight and heavyweight categories. The pDOTS calculator uses the athlete’s weight and the best successful lift to determine the points.
Jhandu started the competition with 181kg before going for 190kg, a weight he knew would put him in medal contention. He cranked it up to 196kg but the bar brushed the overhead hook while going up, resulting a foul. A successful lift would’ve fetched him 135.07 points, and a gold medal.
{{/usCountry}}Jhandu started the competition with 181kg before going for 190kg, a weight he knew would put him in medal contention. He cranked it up to 196kg but the bar brushed the overhead hook while going up, resulting a foul. A successful lift would’ve fetched him 135.07 points, and a gold medal.
{{/usCountry}}“I was definitely going for gold but couldn’t execute the technique well,” he said. Jhandu’s phone hasn’t stopped buzzing since. His family in Bihar’s Harnaut town in Nalanda district stayed up late to watch him compete, and his proud parents have been busy fielding queries from the local press and distributing sweets in the neighbourhood.
“I’m told it’s a party at my place. It feels surreal. As recent as 2-3 years back, I could never dream of representing the country, forget winning a medal. People would laugh at me, call me names, and I would just smile back at them,” he said.
For the better part of his 29 years, his first name made him a butt of jokes among friends, acquaintances and family members. A colloquial slang, ‘jhandu’ is typically used to address someone who’s seen as daft.
Born as Avinash, Jhandu contracted polio in both legs at the age of five. His family, which sells vegetables for a living, spent all its means for his treatment, but nothing helped. An acquaintance then labelled him ‘jhandu’ for exhausting all his family’s money. The name stuck.
“Initially people would call me ‘jhandu’ lovingly, but soon it became a taunt,” he said. Tired of the barbs, he went to a government office to get his name changed, but everyone in the office broke into hysterical laughter on hearing his name.
“I thought if my name can bring happiness to so many people, maybe I shouldn’t change it. I love my name,” he said.
Name settled, Jhandu set out to find his identity. His first stop was the gym. “I thought it didn’t matter if my lower body was polio-struck, I could still work on my upper body.” Soon, the gym became his safe place, barbells his best friends, and it was only natural that his life-altering inspiration would come from the weights room.
Egged on by his enthusiastic instructor, Jhandu took up para athletics in 2017, competing in the F55 shot put and discus throw events. During this period, strength training sparked his interest in powerlifting and he began competing in local events by 2019.
All this while, Jhandu made ends meet by selling vegetables on the pavement in Harnaut. Waking up before dawn, he would go to Bihar Sharif, a town over 30km from his place, to buy vegetables that he would sell during the day. Evenings were reserved for workouts where Jhandu benched more than twice his bodyweight.
“Lifting gave me a sense of liberation. I really looked forward to my gym sessions.”
Gradually, he developed an interest in para power lifting and began to train for the Nationals. To supplement his dietary needs, he needed more money. He drove an e-rickshaw, which he then sold to prepare for the 2023 Nationals.
“I drove for 8-9 months but it was very taxing. I didn’t have the energy to work out after ferrying passengers all day, and the returns weren’t great either. I was still short of money, so I sold it,” he said.
At the 2023 Nationals he failed in all three attempts, but it proved a turning point in his career as Paralympic bronze medallist Rajinder Singh Rahelu identified his potential and invited him to train at the Sports Authority of India’s centre in Gandhinagar.
“It has been an upward trajectory since. Next, I’d like to win medals at the Asian Para Games and the 2028 Paralympics,” he said. They once laughed at his name, but it has finally brought a smile to the nation.