'See beyond your disability': How this Pune Fergusson College para table tennis champion won game of life

In January 2024, Pruthvi Barve received the Fergusson Gaurav Award from the college’s alumni association, The Fergussonians. This achievement was unique because she was among the few students to receive the award while still studying.Last month, the 19-year-old won a bronze medal in table tennis at the Khelo India Para Games 2025, held in Delhi. This accomplishment proved her remarkable willpower and tenacity beyond any doubt. Especially because neither of these achievements, along with many more, has come easily to the athlete.

- GNS News Agency, April 24

Pruthvi was afflicted with right-sided hemiparesis when she was just one month old, a condition that results in weakness or partial paralysis on one side of the body. While the causes of right hemiparesis can vary from brain strokes to lack of oxygen during birth or even excess blood flow in the brain. In Pruthvi's case, the exact reason remains unspecified. What is clear, however, is her journey of resilience that began early.pune table tennis champion In 2019, she joined Sharada Sports Centre, training under coaches Dipti Chaphekar and Surendra Deshpande.By the time she was six months old, Pruthvi had already started physiotherapy, marking the beginning of a lifelong battle against physical limitations with determination and strength. In the fourth standard, she started playing table tennis, encouraged by her family who leaned heavily towards sports.In the eighth standard, she moved from Satara to Pune and continued her education through homeschooling until the tenth standard. She later enrolled in Fergusson College, Pune, where she is pursuing a BA in Political Science.In 2019, she joined Sharada Sports Centre, training under coaches Dipti Chaphekar and Surendra Deshpande. Here, she got the encouragement that mattered most when the coaches pitted her against regular opponents instead of those with a disabi