From abusive marriage to Commonwealth glory: Sharmila Dhankar's gold-winning journey will leave you inspired

In arguably the finest moment of her career, Dhankar clinched the gold in the women's Shot Put F57 event with a season-best throw of 9.81 metres, ending India's two-decade wait for a Commonwealth Games gold in para-athletics.

Even before leaving for Glasgow, she had made her determination clear.

"I’m traveling so far. I can’t come back with nothing," she had told Sportstar.

Her journey from a small village in Haryana to standing atop the Commonwealth Games podium is one of extraordinary courage and resilience.

According to Sportstar, Dhankar was married at the age of 18 to a man who subjected her to years of physical abuse.

"Where I am from, it is just something that is accepted. You learn to adjust. I adjusted," she said.

Recalling the trauma she endured, Dhankar revealed that her husband was addicted to alcohol and drugs.

"He used to get drunk. He would use drugs. I worked in the fields, and I worked taking care of cattle. It was never enough. First, he beat me because I didn’t bring the dowry he wanted. Then he beat me because I gave birth to two daughters," she said.

The abuse reached a horrifying peak when she was 26.

"He beat me, stripped me naked in front of the neighbours and threw me out of my home with my two daughters. That was when my parents took me back home," she recalled.

The emotional scars ran so deep that she once contemplated ending her life along with her daughters.

"I had nothing to look forward to. I didn’t see any future. I thought, let me commit suicide with my daughters. But every time I stopped at the last moment," she said, recalling the darkest phase of her life.

Years later, Dhankar transformed that pain into purpose, rewriting her destiny with a historic Commonwealth Games triumph.

Union Minister Piyush Goyal hailed the achievement as a landmark moment for Indian sport.

"History made in Glasgow!" he wrote on X.

"Heartiest congratulations to Sharmila on winning GOLD in Women's Shot Put F57 at #CWG2026 and becoming India's first-ever Commonwealth Games Gold medallist in Para Athletics," he added.

India's celebrations grew even bigger when fellow para-athlete Shilpa K. Shyla was upgraded from fourth place to the bronze medal after Nigeria's Eucharia Iyiazi was disqualified, giving the country a memorable double podium finish in the event.