"Two omelettes with four idlis in the morning, 250 grams of chicken with rice and 1/2 litre of milk in the night and moderate quantity of mutton once a week. This is his normal diet," N Sivalingam, father of the CWG winner told PTI.
"Imagine, providing quarter kilo of chicken every day was a bit difficult...Now there is recognition and we are happy," Sivalingam, who works as a security guard at VIT University here, said.
Another big challenge was to be very cautious and avoid food supplements that had performance enhancers, he pointed out and recalled how he and his son used to "check, double check and verify" at multiple levels about ingredients in food items, including supplements.
"You need to be cent per cent sure that there are no enhancers in any form. Even I have not allowed him take coffee as it has some caffeine" Sivalingam says, adding that years of effort and careful preparation had now paid off.
Luckily, he got a job in the Southern Railways.