Born as a premature baby after a six-and-a-half month term, Simran Sharma suffered from vision impairment since her birth and spent more than six months in an incubator. 

Struggling with her vision, Sharma was also being taunted by her neighbours for her abnormal walking posture.

But now the scenario has completely changed. The neighbours, the relatives, and the local people who used to show her pity only, nowadays talk about her with pride. They are now talking about the world champion, especially after Saturday.

The 26-year-old ran her personal best timing of 24.95 seconds in the women’s 200m T-12 final to become the world champion in the World Para Athletics Championship in Kobe, Japan on Saturday.

The Indian Para athlete also won the Paris Paralympics quota with her gold medal finish. 

It meant that India finished with their best tally of 17 medals including six gold medals, five silver, and six bronze medals.

While speaking to Indian Express, Simran remembered, "When I was born prematurely by two-and-a-half months, my parents were so worried that they would not sleep for days. They would tell me that the doctors had given up hope on my survival.”

She continued, “It was a miracle that I survived but it would also mean that when I grew up, I had poor vision and would struggle to see things even six feet away. A lot of neighbourhood kids would tease me and ask things like 'how many fingers I can see' or would push me in the wrong direction. This world title is a new direction for me as well as people like me.” 

It was in the neighbourhood of Goelpuri in Modinagar, Ghaziabad that a young Sharma grew up with her father Manoj Kumar who worked as a medical practitioner. 

While her mother Savita Sharma encouraged her to walk and run in the neighborhood park, Sharma was fond of spending time following her mother for a brisk walk. It would come in handy for the youngster as she registered for her graduation at the Rukmani Modi Mahila Inter College at Modinagar. The youngster's interest grew in running and she would compete in inter-college competitions. "I would always follow my mother for a walk and it helped me grow in confidence. When I attended college, a lot of my friends too would encourage me. Yes, there were people who would taunt me, ‘Yeh kya bhagegi,’ but then I had the belief in me,” shared Sharma.

A meeting with her eventual husband Gajendra Singh in 2015 would see Simran start training at the MM College athletics track. 

Singh, who originally hails from village Khanjarpur near Lucknow was also an athlete and would work on Sharma’s strength initially before working on her sprints. 

The couple got married in 2017 after facing a lot of resistance from the family. "Simran has been my strength and she did not ever hesitate to train. Initially, a lot of people said things about our marriage but then we both acted as each other's support and that's what keeps us going," said Singh, who is currently working as Naik in the 227 company of the Indian Army's Army Service Corps.