India, July 25 -- On Thursday, Jhandu Singh won India its first medal at the ongoing Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, claiming bronze in the men's heavyweight para powerlifting event. But the story of that medal began long before he stepped onto the podium. It was built on Harnaudh's pavements in Bihar where he sold vegetables with his parents, inside an e-rickshaw he drove to fund his dream, and through years when chasing powerlifting often meant choosing between training and a proper meal.

Diagnosed with polio at the age of five, Singh grew up hearing people dismiss him. "Yeh ladka kuch nahi karega. They called me laawad, called me zero," he recalls. "I didn't know what I would become, but I knew that couldn't be my story."

His turning ...