Olympian Samsher Khan swimming hero

Posted by Unknown on Thursday 9 August 2012

                               SAMSHEER  KHAN  then youth with gold medals and trophy
SAMSHEER  KHAN  PRESENT  PIC
  
Olympian samsheer khan born in islampur toun of guntur dist andhra pradesh india
Olympian samsheer khan is struggling to cheat sources of income to meet his own medical expenses
Today the hot head lines in each and every news paper and T.V channels across the globe telecasting the news of Olympics London 2012,
Now the Olympics London 2012, is on this year 11200 participants will applying this time the highest / major number of participant are from India
Now the Olympics London 2012 this is the costliest Olympics ever before with over 15 Arab dollar expenses

It is said that if any  participant brought / win golden shield to India ,Each winner of  golden shield will get a 15 crores  Rupees from government of India not just that Sahara India is planning to give 5 kg gold in addition to this different private companies is eagerly waiting to cash and kind awards

The story behind this is this year   Olympics London 2012 got more potential support from India but still today our Indian Participant but still today our Indian participant had not shown blowing result where as each on participant crores of Rs has been spent on the coaching but India has no respect of the Olympian winner California 1955 Olympics 200 mts butter fly swim  and melbrone Olympics 1956 swimming 200 mts etc…, not just that samsheer khan also serve our Indian army and fight in the war with china in  the year 1962 and in 1971 with Pakistan and Bangladesh separation

 In what is a matter of great dishonor to the first swimmer who represented India at the Olympics, the Swimming Federation of India (SFI) has not only forgotten Shamsher Khan's feat but bestowed the honour of being the first Indian swimmer to have qualified for an Olympic event on Sandeep Sejwal. Shamsher had finished fifth at the Melbourne Games of 1956, more than 50 years before new-generation hero Sejwal secured a poor 36th in the preliminary rounds at the Beijing Olympics of 2008.
A forgotten hero now, Shamsher represented India half-a-century ago when few of his countrymen would have even dreamt of swimming beyond their local pools.
 At 82, Shamsher, a native of Kaithepalli near Repalle in Guntur district, struggles to make both ends meet.
"Unfortunately, no sports body has granted me either a pension or a reward. On more than one occasion, I have done the rounds of government offices and ran from pillar to post including government offices several times
for financial assistance, only after my house was washed away in the 1990 cyclone. But very little help came my way. I have stopped meeting officials as they do not know how to respect an Olympian," Shamsher told TOI.
Younger son Shah Ali said that his father had suffered a stroke two years back.
"But he refuses to take drugs keeping in view our poor financial condition. He tells people that he is surviving because he is a champion," says Ali, who works as a mason.
Shamsher set a national record in the 200-metre butterfly in 1954 and swept all records at the national meet in Bangalore in 1955, earning himself a ticket to the Melbourne Olympics. He participated in both the butterfly and breaststroke events at Melbourne.
"The Indian government sponsored the airfare to Melbourne but it was later deducted from my salary.
"All the same, I am thankful to the government for allowing me to be a part of such a glorious event," Shamsher said.
But he rues the fact that his name was missing on the SFI list. District sports development officer Venkateswara Rao says it is no mean achievement to qualify for the Olympics.
"The current crop of swimmers, despite having international coaches and world-class facilities, struggle to even qualify for the preliminary rounds.
"Here you have a sportsman from a remote village in Guntur who took part in the Olympics way back in 1956. We all have reason to be proud of Shamsher Khan," he observed. Fateemunissa, the octogenarian Olympian's wife, says it is shocking that her husband was not recognized for his exploits in the swimming pool.
"My husband used to spend a major part of his salary on swimming competitions at the national and international level. He used to tell me that he was doing it to win laurels for the nation. We are all proud of him but no sports body or government has bothered about him or his family," she complains.
Shamsher joined the Indian Army as a teen and took part in the Indo-China war in 1962 and the war with Pakistan in 1971.


 Today he is in such a situation that he requests through a news paper that he need an help from the state /central government or from the people,
 you can also get him tuch by phone # 08978421144,
You can donate him by depositing the a/c number mention on the news paper ARTICLE PHOTO
a/c # 11090642350
state4 bank of India re pally Guntur branch dist AP  india



{ 2 comments... read them below or add one }

Unknown said...

very sad that our previous government did only religion politics and used every one fro there own sake ,, very sad to be a sports person in india if government won't support the sportsman ,, now this situation should change ,, jai hind

Dr Dummdere Callum said...

Please share Shamsher Khan's address and bank details

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