Olympics

Quarantined, but still carrying a billion hopes! Let’s cheer for the Indian Paralympics contingent

A look at the Indian Paralympics contingent, the key players and medal prospects and the general apathy towards our very own athletes.

Indians at fray in the Rio 2016 Paralympics

 

India will be represented by 19 athletes at the Rio Paralympics. And like the Rio 2016 Olympics, this would be the largest delegation that India has sent for the event till date.
India had sent a total of 10 athletes last time in London and the numbers have doubled. The Paralympics give an equal opportunity to the disabled, to showcase their skills and compete at a world level. And, that is the main purpose of having it immediately after the Olympics. I am sure this video will give anyone goosebumps!

The Paralympics Games

The Paralympics Games are scheduled from 7-18 September in Rio.
There are in total 10 legitimate disabilities such as
1. impaired muscle power
2. impaired passive range of movement
3. limb deficiency
4. leg length difference
5. short stature
6. hypertonia
7. ataxia
8. athetosis
9. vision impairment and
10. intellectual impairment

Know your Paraolympians!

The list of 19 athletes, by their event names is listed below:
Club throw
Amit Kumar Saroha
Dharambir

Javelin throw
Devendra Jhajaria
Sundar Singh Gurjar
Rinku
Narendra Ranbir
Virender Dhankar (Also Shotput)
Sandeep

Discus throw
Karamjyoti Dalal

High jump
Mariyappan Thangavelu
Varun Singh Bhati
Rampal Chahar
Sharad Kumar

Shot put
Deepa Malik
Virender Dhankar (Also Javelin throw)

1500m
Ankur Dhama

Powerlifting
Basha Farman

Swimming
Suyash Narayan Jadhav

Archery
Pooja Rani

Shooting
Naresh Kumar Sharma

India’s past performance and current medal hopefuls

Here are the medalists from the last 2 Paralympics.
Athens 2004 – 1 Gold medal courtesy Devendra Jhajaria in men’s Javelin throw.
London 2012 – 1 Silver medal courtesy N Girisha in men’s high jump.

2004 Athens gold medallist Devendra Jhajaria can be counted as a safe bet for a podium finish. Amit Kumar Saroha can also be counted as a good medal prospect and so is high jumper Mariyappan Thangavelu (just standing a close second with 1.78m to Egyptian Hammad Hassan’s 1.81)

Pooja will be competing in Archery Women’s Recurve Open and has her ranking rounds on 10th which she should clear easily to make it to the elimination on 15th September. Another good prospect in Ankur Dhama will compete in 1500m T11 and is the 1st blind athlete to represent India in a Paralympics!

Media apathy

Unfortunately there is no TV coverage of the event. It is ironical and somewhat critical of Indian media that they have completely chosen to ignore this event.
On the other hand, they carried a pompous and comprehensive coverage of Indian medalists PV Sindhu and Sakshi Malik in Rio about two weeks back.

The head of the stat did tweet in support of the athletes.

But, it is appalling that the national broadcaster in Doordarshan is still not going telecast the matches. As a result, the fans and all Indians would end up missing a medal and some sumptuous performances from its athletes.

Future

The attitude of pity towards the disabled should change to that of inspiration. After all these Paralympic athletes have made it to the highest sporting level in spite of all difficulties. Moreover, the media coverage, sports facilities and felicitations should be on par to that given to other athletes in the country. Making it mandatory for the broadcaster to cover both the Olympics and Paralympic Games will also garner some more interest in the games. Moreover, shifting it earlier will act as a good starter or help in building up the fervor to the Olympic games.

At a time, when our very own athletes are quarantined let’s equally cheer for them in the Paralympics much like we did for the Rio Olympics. After all equality is what they are fighting for and in spite of all difficulties they are still carrying a billion hopes!

“Chak Do! Make us all proud !”