Focussing on grassroots to further Olympic glory: PCI chief Jhajharia

The sun was beating down on the blue track relentlessly.

- Indraneel Das @Chennai

If not for occasional spurts of cool breeze across the JN Stadium in Chennai, the temperature would have reached summer heights.

Some of the para-athletes were warming up outside while a bunch of them were competing at the National para-athletics meet here on Wednesday. They were oblivious about their afflictions and were lost in their own world of sport. For some this acts as a balm while for others it's an outlet of their emotions.

There were a bunch of Paris Paralympic medallists like Navdeep Singh, Hokato Sema lighting up the show.

On the sidelines of the event was Devendra Jhajharia, president of the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI), was one among them. Since he took over from Deepa Malik last year, the Indian para-athletes have been performing well, reaching their zenith during the Paris Paralympics last year.