Athlete Rahul Jhore was worried to see his teammates quit the sport every few months. Over the past year, more and more athletes skipped weekly training claiming sickness — coughs, body aches, chest pain, and breathlessness.
But “the problem wasn’t the rigorous training; it was the polluted air we were breathing,” said Jhore.
He and his teammates run 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) a day as part of their training for Kabaddi, a seven-a-side contact sport. Without training facilities in their Bhadole village, in India’s Maharashtra state, they are forced to use roadways congested with fumes from old cars and trucks.
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About the author
Sanket Jain
Sanket Jain is an award-winning independent journalist and documentary photographer based in western India’s Maharashtra state. He is a senior People’s Archive of Rural India and an Earth Journalism Network fellow. His work has appeared in more than 35 publications. Sanket is the recipient of the Covering Climate Now Award, One World Media Award, New York University’s Online Journalism Award, and several other national and international awards.