Trailblazers – Episode 2
A weekly series celebrating Paralympic Champions on RevSportz, presented by Tata Steel.
Krishna Nagar had just won India’s fifth gold medal in badminton at the Tokyo Paralympics taking the total tally to an impressive 19. Overall, 54 athletes winning 19 medals, including five golds, was a telling statement. More so when we think that the cumulative medals tally between 1968, when India first participated at the Paralympics, and 2016, when four medals were won, was 12. Tokyo was a 425 percent increase on the Rio number.
Understandably, Deepa Malik, President of the Paralympic Committee of India, was elated. But she also had a very peculiar problem on hand. “PCI isn’t a very rich organisation,” she said. “But we are committed to honouring our athletes and celebrating them in every way we can. As a result, we had made these gold bracelets for each of our medal winners as a token of our gratitude and affection. We had ordered 15, and now I have the happy problem of increasing it to 20!” For the first time in India’s sporting history, a Games of this magnitude has exceeded expectations.
“Jitoge to badlao aayga, nahi toh nahi”
In 2004, when Devendra Jhajharia, India’s most successful Paralympic athlete, was on his way to the Athens Games, he had just one person to accompany him to the airport. There was no politician, no bureaucrat and no media to give him a send-off. The only person with him was his father, who tellingly said to him, “Agar tum jit ke aate ho, to badlao aayega, nahi toh kuch nahi hoga [If you return victorious, there will be change. Otherwise, nothing will happen].” Today, Devendra’s father is no more but the ‘badlao’ [change] he had dreamt of has come. With Devendra’s gold medal in 2004, the government of India, for the first time, accorded recognition to the Paralympic Committee of India. Finally in 2021, with a landmark 19 medals, which included a third Paralympic medal from Devendra, the battle seems to have been won. And on this journey, two things have changed. The first is the attitude of the Indian athletes. Three of India’s gold medallists best epitomise this change. Avani Lekhara, now 21, winner of two medals, which included a gold and a bronze, in shooting was still not happy with her performance. “I am a perfectionist,” said a smiling Lekhara. Still a teenager then, she went on to add, “I could have performed better with my last shot during the gold medal contest. And if I am not happy with a gold medal, how can I be happy with a bronze?” Yes, she was excited with all that was going on around her, but had not lost focus. A gold a day earlier in the Para shooting competition was evidence. “There is so much more to do,” said Avani. “If my gold and bronze can encourage more to play sport, and if we can double this medal count in Paris, it will mean a lot more to me.”
Sumit Antil, who had broken his own world record three times in 45 minutes in the Javelin, is another athlete who isn’t satisfied yet. And at the World Para Athletics Championship in Paris, Antil could better his own world mark. “Haan, world record hua but sahi mein bataun to mujhe 80-metre-plus javelin phekna hai [Yes, there was a world record, but in truth I should throw the javelin over 80m,” said Sumit. “Neeraj ne 89 meters pheka. Mujhe lagta hai mein bhi 80-82 meters phek sakta hoon [Neeraj threw it 89m. I think I can throw80-82m].” That’s his next ambition, to break his world record many more times and reach the 80-metre mark.
Like it or not, it is this winning mentality that has made a significant difference. Had it been one or two medals instead of 19, this piece wouldn’t be written. The media wouldn’t hype things up, nationwide celebrations wouldn’t happen, and the movement to mainstream para sport would continue to be a pipe dream. While we should celebrate all 54 athletes as real-life heroes, the significance of medals can never be underestimated.
Maybe that’s at the heart of this series. And here on Trailblazers, we will celebrate every such athlete who has made us proud. We have also tried to identify the champions of tomorrow, and profile them. The idea is to be proactive rather than reactive.
In London 2012, the Indians had very little idea of what was going on. We were still very new to all that was needed to produce Paralympic champions. HN Girisha won a silver in London 2012 purely based on individual brilliance. In Rio in 2016, things were a little better when 19 Indian athletes won four medals. But even in 2016, a medal was more a novelty. That India could win 10 or more medals was still a pipe dream. In the last five years, that’s what has changed. We now have athletes who have won at the Commonwealth and Asian level and also at multiple Para World Championships which are held every year. They are at the top of their sport and ranked between 1 and 5. They know how to win, and are no longer overawed or there just to participate. Rather, they are there to compete and win.
So when the Secretary General of the Paralympic Committee of India says, “We can win 100 medals at the Asian Para Games and 35 medals in Paris”, the words don’t sound hollow. And that’s why Trailblazers, a series that showcases and celebrates these champions.
At RevSportz, we are delighted to partner with Tata Steel for this series, as their contribution to the growth and promotion of Olympic sport in India is immense.
More than a century ago, Jamsetji Tata advised his son, Sir Dorabji Tata, in his letters to “earmark areas for football, hockey, and parks.” The Tatas have continued to encourage sports ever since, and this is a part of Tata Steel’s culture. The support for sport is reflected in its ethos – ‘Sports is a way of Life’. Tata Steel has been one of the foremost corporate promoters of Indian sports – having built academies for football, archery, athletics, hockey and sport climbing. It was a tradition started by the company’s first chairman, Sir Dorabji Tata, who financed India’s first Olympic team to Antwerp, Belgium in 1920. The proof of Tata Steel’s efforts in adding value to the overall sports ecosystem in the country is that it has produced several national-level award winners, and maybe that’s why a series on Paralympic Sports is a very natural fit with the Tata Steel brand.
Today, we broadcast episode two with Suhas Yathiraj, silver medallist in Tokyo and very well-regarded bureaucrat, being my guest.