EACH ONE A CHAMPION

India’s para-athletes made history in Tokyo, but the story of how they got there is a true lesson in grit

- Shail Desai

First, let the numbers sink in: India picked up five gold medals at the Paralympic Games in Tokyo this year. That’s more gold than ever won in the last 11 editions of the quadrennial event in which India participated. This year’s contingent featured 54 athletes. At Rio de Janeiro in 2016, there were only 19. And the previous best of four medals was bettered to 19 this time around—that number is also seven more than what India picked up since its first participation at the Paralympics in 1968.

It has, predictably, taken a medal haul to brings India’s para-athletes into the spotlight, but until even a few months ago, they were an invisible force, training in various arenas across the country, just as hard as their able-bodied counterparts.

For most of them, it’s been a story of perseverance—embarking on a journey of discovery that would test the limits of their abilities. But what they didn’t realize was an obvious truth—they became champions on the day they first stepped out on a sporting field.

SYSTEMS OF SUPPORT

There’s a common notion that runs in the world of sports—‘start ’em young’. Most world champions, we hear, picked up a racket or kicked a ball at about the same time they took their first wobbly steps. For para-athletes, though, this story is often different. Sharad Kumar, for instance, might well have won bronze in the high jump T42 category event, but the sport wasn’t the first, natural choice for him.