Aspiring to further excel in sports after winning award in National Games for Differently-Abled Persons, Ankush Kripta, a 24-year-old divyang sportsperson from Rohroo in Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh is leading silent battle to get a government job to fulfill dreams.

The deaf and mute boy, Ankush Kripta had secured first place in 400 m race, second place in 100 m race and shotput event in 2013-14 National Games for Differently-Abled Persons held from 1-5 November 2014 in Bhubaneswar in Odisha.

He had also participated in National Games in 2012 in Football event in which his team had stood third. “I want to continue my higher studies after getting government job and want to further excel in sports,” Kripta told his mentor Sanjeev Sunta through sign language.

Sunta runs a NGO, Nishtha in Shimla and he had got him admitted in school for children with special abilities at Dhalli in Shimla after getting to know about him in 2004.

Ankush is quite energetic boy who wants to excel in every field, be it sports or studies, though he had to drop out his higher studies as the school in which he was studying offers education till Class X only in 2014. He had even scored over 70 per cent marks in matriculation examinations.

It was in 2017 that the school was upgraded till Class XII and the admissions for Class IX commenced from present academic session. Born in landless poor family, Ankush’s father Sitaram works as daily wage worker with state Public Works Department (PWD) while his younger brother is pursuing graduate degree from a government college in Rohroo.

Ankush had met Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and had asked him to provide government jobs under sports quota as well as on compassionate grounds. “He was given assurance that he would soon be provided with government but it had not been met as yet,” Sunta said.

The divyang sportsperson had even staged a hunger strike for 126 days at Dhalli in October 2016 and had ended the strike in January after getting assurance from the state government.

“He is still awaiting reply from government on the issue,” the social worker said, adding the government job would enable him to support his family as well as excel in sports so that he could represent India at international level.