From cleaning rest rooms to winning two Asian Games golds — the rise of Aslam Inamdar

There was a moment in the second half of the Asian Games kabaddi gold-medal match against Iran when Aslam Inamdar made a daring raid deep into the opposition half.

His teammate Pawan Sehrawat groaned inwardly as he did so. India’s lead was narrow. Iran was still in the contest. It was a risk that could have gone badly wrong. “It was a bad decision,” Pawan would say later. But Inamdar made the dash count, securing two touches and emerging unscathed. The points brought India closer to victory. “It was a wrong move, but ant bhala toh sab bhala (if the end is good, it’s all worth it),” Inamdar said after the match.