# From selling juice to two Asian Games golds: Aslam Inamdar’s story

2026-09-26T17:56:47+00:00 | Sports | Indian Opinion Desk

Corroboration: 3 independent outlets

Aslam Inamdar, who slept under train seats and survived on vada pav as a teenager, won his second Asian Games kabaddi gold for India in Nagoya on Saturday. The 27-year-old raider from Takli Bhan in Ahilyanagar district, Maharashtra, lost his father young and took menial jobs washing utensils, cleaning toilets and selling juice to survive. He started kabaddi because it needed no equipment beyond shorts, and earned Rs 200 to Rs 500 per local match. His breakthrough came with the Pro Kabaddi League, where his first cheque of Rs 8 lakh felt like a fortune. He bought a gold necklace for his mother. Inamdar later captained Puneri Paltan to their maiden league title and won the Most Valuable Player award. He said: "It still feels like a dream that someone who didn't even have food now holds two international medals."

## Indian Opinion Analysis

All three sources report the same arc in near-identical language, led with the daring raid, the survival details and Inamdar's own quotes. The New Indian Express version is slightly shorter, omitting the Raid sequence and Pawan Sehrawat's quote entirely, but carries no different stance. Coverage is uniform straight reporting on an inspirational sports story with no political or ideological framing. The distinction worth noting is that the Sportstar and The Hindu versions both anchor the narrative to the risky raid as a metaphor for Inamdar's life, while the New Indian Express leads strictly chronologically from poverty to gold. The takeaway is a personal story earning unanimous neutral coverage, with no competing government or opposition narrative to weigh.

## Coverage

- newindianexpress.com (neutral report) <https://www.newindianexpress.com/sport/sports-news/2026/Sep/26/surviving-on-vada-pav-working-in-tea-stalls-to-twin-asian-games-kabaddi-gold-aslams-tale>
  Straight inspirational feature, no political framing
- sportstar.thehindu.com (neutral report) <https://sportstar.thehindu.com/kabaddi/asian-games-2026-aslam-inamdar-india-two-gold-medals-kabaddi-star-iran-final-story-journey-puneri-paltan/article71513960.ece>
  Straight inspirational feature, no political framing
- thehindu.com (neutral report) <https://www.thehindu.com/sport/other-sports/from-cleaning-rest-rooms-to-winning-two-asian-games-golds-the-rise-of-aslam-inamdar/article71517229.ece>
  Straight inspirational feature, no political framing

Tags: Asian Games, Aslam Inamdar, India kabaddi, Pro Kabaddi League
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Cite: https://indianopinion.org/from-vada-pav-and-tea-stalls-to-second-asian-games-kabaddi-gold/#story-in-brief