How India treats its champions: Record-breakers left hauling poles on e-rickshaw
Hours after shattering the national record with identical 5.45m leaps at the 2026 Federation Cup, a viral video exposed India's top pole vaulters Dev Meena and Kuldeep Kumar hauling their 5m poles on a cramped e-rickshaw.
The contrast couldn't be more heartbreaking. On Sunday in Ranchi, Madhya Pradesh teammates Dev Kumar Meena and Kuldeep Kumar scripted Indian athletics history, pushing each other to clear a sensational, joint national record height of 5.45m at the Federation Cup 2026.
Yet, hours after securing their spots at the top of Indian sports and qualifying for the 2026 Commonwealth Games, a video emerged on social media exposing a familiar, grim reality. The history-makers were seen packed into the back of a cramped e-rickshaw, manually hauling their five-meter-long fibreglass poles through the streets.
GLORY TO STREET HUSTLE
The sight of India’s absolute best pole vaulters having to arrange and travel in a tiny e-rickshaw sparked immediate outrage online, with fans calling out the massive, systemic failure in athlete welfare. Pole-vaulting requires highly specialised, fragile, and heavy equipment, yet the country's newest record-holders were left completely to their own devices to transport the very tools that won them glory.
WATCH THE VIDEO
Sadly, for Dev and Kuldeep, the logistics of their sport have proven to be an ongoing nightmare. Earlier this year, both athletes were abruptly forced to debated a train at Panvel station by a Travelling Ticket Examiner (TTE) while returning from the All India Inter-University Championships.
The officials claimed they couldn't carry their poles on board, leaving the champions stranded at the station for nearly five hours. At the time, an emotional Dev Meena released a video plea questioning the treatment, wondering how junior athletes survive if international-level competitors are subjected to such blatant harassment.
HISTORIC BATTLE ON FIELD
The off-field apathy stands in sharp contrast to the sheer brilliance the duo displayed on the track in Ranchi. The men’s pole vault final was an absolute thriller that saw the national record broken twice in a single evening.
Kuldeep had entered the tournament as the sole record holder with a 5.41m mark set earlier this month in Bhubaneswar. However, Dev struck first, soaring over 5.42m to temporarily claim the crown. Kuldeep responded like a true champion, raising the stakes by clearing 5.45m.
Not to be outdone, Dev answered back, clearing 5.45m as the crowd roared. Though Dev secured the gold medal on a countback (fewer failed attempts), both athletes walked away as joint national record holders. They even attempted a 5.50m vault, pushing the limits of Indian athletics.
While both athletes have comfortably achieved the Athletics Federation of India’s qualification standard of 5.25m for the upcoming Commonwealth Games, the modern sporting world requires more than just grit. If India truly wants its athletes to bridge the gap with Asian and world standards, it must start by treating its champions with basic dignity on the ground.