Labourer-athlete Rizwan Pathan fights poverty by day, chases MMA dream by night

Labourer-athlete Rizwan Pathan fights poverty by day, chases MMA dream by night

By day, 27-year-old Rizwan Pathan hauls heavy slabs of marble in a factory, earning barely enough to keep his children fed. By night, despite aching limbs and exhaustion, he heads to the sports ground to train. "I work so my children don't sleep hungry," he says. "And I train so the sportsman inside me doesn't die." Rizwan is not just a labourer. He is a 22-time award-winning athlete in mixed martial arts and gymnastics. Yet his daily wage is as…

From Gold medals to marble dust, Rizwan Pathan’s fight against poverty

Rizwan Pathan was a beacon of hope in the martial arts and gymnastics world in Pakistan. Today, he finds himself amidst the hum of machines and the dust of a marble factory in Nowshera. The national medalist, whose medals shone like beacons of victory, has had to change his gym mat for a laborer’s toolkit due to financial difficulties. It is a bitter reality that many athletes in the country have to confront. Pathan belongs to Bajaur District, a…