News, Delhi: The Olympics fever has clearly captured the Indian parents. who are willing to let their aspiring athletes chase dreams rather than tying them down with marriage.

Special thanks to the performance of Dipa Karmakar, PV Sindhu, and Sakshi Malik; women power will not be underestimated on Olympics stage.

In what is an uplifting story of sacrifice and ambition, Manilal Gohil, a rickshaw driver from Ahmedabad, Gujarat, did not think twice before purchasing a German made rifle for his daughter Mittalbahen Gohil who is a national level shooter, paying Rs. 5 lakh (over $8,000).

Manilal knew that fulfilling the passion of his daughter was more important than getting her married. So he decided to use the five lakh rupees he had set aside for her marriage to buy a state of the art rifle so that she could take part in national level competitions with full confidence.

When Manilal and Mittal approached the local police officials for a license to keep the rifle, the authorities could not believe that a rickshaw driver had managed to raise this much amount for buying a modern rifle for his daughter. The police praised his efforts and helped him complete the formalities quickly.

“My father and my family has sacrificed a lot just to fulfill my expensive hobby. After getting this rifle I will work hard to participate in international level and represent our country,” says Mittal, who lives with her parents and two brothers in a chawl in the Gomtipur area of Ahmedabad and has been practicing shooting for four years.

The Ahmedabad girl had earlier won a bronze medal at the National Championships, that too with a rented rifle.

Until recently, Mittal used to borrow rifles from other shooters. Brahma, the brother of renowned shooter Lajja Goswami, had lent Mittal his rifle with which she participated in the 57th All India National Shooting Championship in 2013. She and her teammates, Goswami and Anju Sharma, bagged the bronze medal.

It was then Manilal and her elder brother Jainish started saving money to buy a German rifle for Mittalbahen.

The rifle weights 8 kg and each bullet costs Rupees 31 and she needs to buy at least 1000 rounds to participate in a tournament. Now, buying these bullets has become a problem for the family.

Shooting was not Mittal’s first passion, interestingly. Her dream was to join the Indian Army, but she was unable could to do so because of her short height. She had also cleared the PSI exam but could not join due to her physical stature.

Mittal’s younger brother Mitesh is also trying to establish himself as a pistol shooter.

Hopefully, this story will now reach people running the sport and stars such as Abhinav Bindra and Gagan, and Mittal will get more sustained support.