From lightweight to heavyweight athletes, Thirumoy Banerjee’s debut book HEROES follows journeys of 15 India’s top athletes
New Delhi/Pune, 10 July 2026: Boxing legend MC Mary Kom dismissed a young Nikhat Zareen when she sought a trial for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics qualifiers. She was aghast when Zareen’s request for a match was acceded to.
Zareen was up against it, but the pressure of the big day, not just of facing a formidable opponent but much more, got to her.
However, champions are never mowed down by setbacks. Zareen’s story only began from here.
In his debut book, ‘HEROES — The Changemakers of Indian Sports’, journalist-turned-author Thirumoy Banerjee captures the stories of Zareen and 14 other top young athletes representing various sporting disciplines, who faced steep challenges to make it to the top.
While a runner couldn’t afford a proper pair of shoes, another had to use a bamboo stick because a sword was beyond their means.
Why do wrestlers gain several kilograms after bouts, something that cost Vinesh a possible Olympics gold in Paris? How do wrestlers shed these additional kilos overnight?
The book answers these interesting questions.
While Aman Sehrawat fought his personal and professional demons to write history, his namesake from taekwondo ended up entering the sport in a bid to run away from his most-dreaded subject in school.
The book has the story of an athlete whose family struggled to make ends meet. Then there is another who set out to be a wrestler but ended up becoming a multiple-time world record-breaker in javelin, after his world took an 180-degree turn following a life-shattering accident.
First-hand information in most chapters of ‘HEROES’ makes the text interesting and personal. The author interviewed most of the athletes featured in the book and it reflects in the storytelling.
A few chapters, though, leave readers wanting for more. The chapter on star badminton players Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, for example, deserved a different treatment. They are projected as contrasting individuals who came together to smash their way on top. A little more light could have been thrown on their backgrounds, and what else their coach did apart from making them take their meals together to bring them closer.
How they handled disagreements, especially in their initial months, would have have been an interesting point that the author perhaps missed out on.
These stray shortcomings notwithstanding, ‘HEROES’ is an honest attempt to speak about players from less-discussed sporting disciplines.
The book covers an array of sports from sailing to equestrian, and from speed skating to taekwondo. After each chapter, there’s interesting trivia on the history of these sports and their growth in India. These ‘factboxes’ also have information on some of the biggest names in these disciplines in India and abroad.
Most chapters are conversational, the language throughout is lucid, the stories stick to the subject, and roles of coaches are duly acknowledged. The content keeps its tone keeping in mind that primary readers of the book are going to be children and never gets preachy despite the highly inspirational undertone.
Stories like Divyakriti’s and Vishnu Saravanan’s are unique as they are up against not just their opponents but powers beyond their control. The author handles the detailing well. How Vishnu becomes in sync with nature when out in the sea and how Divyakriti knows exactly what her horse, Adrenalin, is feeling like make the pieces a fun read. These are certainly the highlight points of the book.
To sum up, ‘HEROES’ is the journey of athletes from being an unknown to becoming the torchbearer of the sport. Though it is branded and designed as a children’s book, ‘HEROES’ can well be read by older people with an interest in sports beyond cricket.
Book Name: ‘HEROES’
Author: Thirumoy Banerjee
Publisher: Scholastic India
Price: Rs 399
Available on: Amazon, book stores
