Anant Zanane and Shakya Mitra/NDTV

Lucknow, Mar 26: Rinku Singh can throw a ball at 140 kilometres an hour. And that's about how quickly his life has changed.

The son of a truck driver, he now has a chance to cross the seven seas and play a game he's probably never seen - the American national pastime, baseball.

One month ago Rinku was just another athlete who was preparing to qualify for the javelin team. But then, life took a different spin.

Rinku threw the javelin away and started pitching baseballs. One month down the line, he participated in a Million Dollar Arm competition. He won himself Rs 40 lakh and a ticket to professional American baseball.

"One month ago, my coach asked me to start practice," Rinku says. "I didn't even know what kind of a game baseball is. It is my coach who told me about the game and prepared me for it."

For Rinku this is just the beginning. A trip to San Francisco means one year of grooming by a professional coach. Later on he will be auctioned to a league team and who knows - he might just be a desi Babe Ruth in the making.

"I also hope that I will play even better and then there will be a baseball card after me," Rinku says. "And when I return I will take more talented players from India."

Rinku's makeover would have been incomplete without J.S. Bhatia. He coached Rinku at the Lucknow Sports College. He is proud that the talent of young rural boys like Rinku is being recognised

Rinku's family in Bhadohi too was in for a surprise.

The people of the village on the Varanasi-Allahabad highway don't know what baseball is. Rinku's family is proud of his achievement considering the hardship in which he and his six siblings were brought up. There were occasions when they went days without food.

Anant Raja, Rinku's mother, says "The child who was the loafer was the one who made the family proud."

In all three Indians have made the cut. Incidentally all three are from UP. On May 1, they will bid farewell to a cricket crazy country only to embrace another form of professional bat and ball game.

Father Brahma Dev Singh says, "I used to drive and make sure that all my children's needs are met. I helped Rinku in his sports and gave him a free hand. Now all the villagers are also happy. Now that he as won forty lakh rupees, the whole village is happy."

Rinku's friend Manoj Singh says, "We have studied and played together. He skipped exams and became a winner."