‘I am a sportswoman,I fight things out’

“It makes me proud that doctors kept me in this block. I know it is now used as an emergency facility,but who knows… may be it is my destiny to be a great sportsperson one day,” Sonu told Newsline over phone from her isolation room.

The volleyball player was pushed out of a running train by men who were angry that she resisted their attempts to snatch her chain. Doctors had to amputate her left leg to save her life.

“I held on to the chain. Even when I lay writhing in pain on the railway tracks,I did not let go. I am a sportswoman,I fight things out,” Sonu said. “I can prop myself up with the help of a pillow. The pain is almost gone.”

She played her last volleyball game six years ago,but maintains the sport is still close to her heart. She had been practising all these years. “I played in Chhattisgarh in 2004. I represented the Uttar Pradesh state team. I was so swift that my team mates and opponents praised me.”

The trauma of losing a leg has only steeled her resolve to excel in the sport. “When I was told my leg was amputated,the first thought that struck me was that I would never be able to run again. I was scared they would find problems with my other leg as well,and then it would be a point of no return.”

“I will win a gold medal in volleyball at the national level. I will prove it to the world and myself.”

Sonu was on way to Bareilly to write a CISF examination at the time of the incident.

“Mein ne socha naukri ke saath khelne par log zyaada izzat karenge. Mein volleyball nahin chhorne wali thi (I thought people would respect me more as a player if I also had a job. I was never going to quit volleyball),” she said.

“I hope the government keeps its promise of giving me a job. ”