As Rishikanta Singh Chanambam stepped onto the platform for the men’s 60kg weightlifting competition at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow on Sunday, his biggest supporters gathered around a mobile phone more than 7,000km away in Uttarlai, Barmer, Rajasthan.Although Rishikanta originated from Ngairangbam Makha Maning Leikai in: ManipurImphal West district, his parents live with his elder brother, Amarjit Singhin Rajasthan for the past few months. His father is undergoing treatment for blood cancer at AIIMS Jodhpur, where he has completed three rounds of chemotherapy and is responding well.Even as Rishikanta lifted a combined 264kg to claim the silver medal, thoughts of his father were never far from his mind.“Our life was very difficult, and I always tried to make her smile because I never got to spend much time with her,” Rishikanta said in an exclusive interaction with TOI:. “The last time I came home, I even took him to a scooter showroom so he could finally buy one for himself.”Taking care of his family, however, has been Rishikanta’s priority since childhood.“I used to work as a daily wage laborer with some of my friends,” the 28-year-old recalled. “I worked for about two to three months. I was not a skilled worker, so I mostly helped with whatever work was available and earned about ₹150 a day.”He initially took the job to earn enough money to attend a private school like most of his friends. But as the family’s financial struggle deepened, the money he earned also went to support the family.While his parents worked as daily wage laborers in other people’s farms, his father also worked as a taxi driver to supplement the family’s income. However, they struggled to provide for a family of six – the parents, two sons and two daughters.“We don’t even own a farm,” said Amarjit, who has served in the Indian Air Force since 2012. “Our parents worked in other people’s fields to earn a living.”The family’s fortunes began to change only after Amarjit got a job. Until then, every rupee counts, and Rishikanta’s dream always depends on his elder brother’s support. “My elder brother is like my second father,” says Rishikanta. “There was a time when I had no income. He paid for my training and competitions. What I am today is because of him.”Amarjit never hesitated before helping, and now he couldn’t be prouder of what his younger brother had achieved.As for Rishikanta’s sporting journey, it began after a veteran coach persuaded the family to send him for trials at the National Sports Academy in Imphal. He gained selection and spent his formative years there under Brojendro Singh before progressing through the Sports Authority of India (SAI) system.The road, however, was anything but smooth. After graduating from the academy, he was forced to stay at home for several months without training before the coaches helped him and officially continued his career at the SAI National Center of Excellence. Later he joined Indian Navy: in 2019, giving him financial security before entering the national camp. For the past two years, he has been training under chief national coach Vijay Sharma in Modinagar.Ironically, weightlifting was not Rishikanta’s first love.“My dream is to become a boxer,” he said. “I even trained in boxing for a while because I admired the sport after watching Dingko Singh. But when I started competing in weightlifting and won a tournament, I realized this is where I belong.”That decision changed his life.Having narrowly missed out on a medal at the last Commonwealth Games, Rishikanta looked set to crown his journey with gold in Glasgow after setting a CWG record of 121kg in the snatch. But a lingering knee injury, which bothered him for weeks before the competition, limited him to clean and run, leaving him with silver. The medal, however, made him the first ever male weightlifter from Manipur to stand on the Commonwealth Games podium.“I believe I could have won gold if I had been fully fit,” admitted Rishikanta. “The injury did not allow me to train the way I wanted before the competition.”For Rishikanta, however, the silver represents more than just a medal. It was a tribute to parents who spent years working as laborers to keep the family alive, an older brother whom he still calls his “second father”, and the promise of a young man who once earned ₹150 a day as a laborer that one day he would make all their sacrifices worthwhile.