In collaboration with Tata Steel.
Episode 1 Conversation with Deepa Malik, Paralympic medalist and President Paralympic Committee of India.
Salient Points
Sea change since Rio with government and corporate support.
Athletes in the top 5 of the world in almost every event India will be participating in at the Asian Games and Paris 2024.
Overall society is making giant strides towards equality and sensitivity.
Excerpts of the conversation:
Boria – What is the difference between when you were throwing in Rio 2016 to now when the athletes will head to Paris in a years time?
Deepa – The biggest difference is in the way the media, government and other forms of corporate support and cheer for para athletes have come about in the last few years. At the world stage people are noticing that India has now become a country which supports her para athletes, celebrates them and gives them their due which was missing all these years.
Boria – Every para athlete now feels empowered, the association backs them, media coverage, as you rightly said, has changed. How has the federation done that?
Deepa – It has been hard work and team work. The association has worked tirelessly to ensure that the selection trials are held on time, we have researched and involved sports science into the programme which helps us in ensuring that athletes are mentally and physically in the right frame to give it their best shot. We have also focused on accountability. We are meticulously working towards strict selection criteria and that has helped us back the right talent. We are not only focused on the big events like Olympics, we also plan well for Asian level tournaments, the Grand Prix, and hence there isn’t a single tournament where India participates and comes back empty handed. We are also working very hard on educational programmes. We are holding educational programmes not only for India but also for other countries as well. We recently conducted educational programmes for 12 different countries and we have invited the IPC classifiers, the IPC coaches, a proper IPC education programme has been conducted where we have supported the regional countries also to come and participate.
It is a well thought out and rounded vision. And unless you have a team behind it you can never achieve all round growth. I will credit everyone association with the Paralympic Committee of India for this transformation.
Boria – Are you seeing people with disabilities get equal opportunities in the society as a whole and especially in sports? For more than elite athletes that’s where change has to happen. That’s when we will become an equal and inclusive society.
Deepa – Absolutely, be it the Government, the corporates, the media houses, we are now being given the same respect, the same pedestal as any other able bodied athlete. And by doing so society is improving as more and more specially abled athletes are getting the backing of corporates. With support coming their way they are getting opportunities to redefine themselves, to create their own niche and shape their own identity. They are able to overcome their body challenges by being called fit international athletes. It is a welcome change and a major departure.
Boria – Are we getting to a place where women athletes are getting equal opportunities as their male counterparts and as their abled body counterparts?
Deepa – Our country’s sports policies do not discriminate between able bodied and para athletes anymore. I recommended the idea of educating all coaches so that they can coach both able bodied and para athletes. My idea was received with vigour and secretary mam Sujata Chaturvedi has said that the idea shall be implemented. It will be a big step forward for all of us. Now even state governments are being inclusive in their sports policies. States like Haryana, Rajasthan, Karnataka were already there and now even Uttar Pradesh has followed the same path. The sports policy is giving job opportunities, gradation through certificates , cash rewards. Today an athlete irrespective of their gender, age and background are getting opportunities to empower themselves through sports.
The world is seeing that India has taken the onus to take care of her para-athletes!
From Rio’s 4 to Tokyo’s 19, India’s Paralympic contingent has brought in a sea of change! @DeepaAthlete sharing her thoughts on this progress & the way forward!
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Boria – What are the expectations from the Asian Games and Paris Olympics? Will India get 30 medals and make it the best one so far?
Deepa –I don’t want to put a number for that will only add to the pressure on our athletes. Let me tell you something else. Recently we had the Athletics Open Championship in India, we had two world records being broken. I am a little superstitious and I won’t tell you any numbers like I said but I can assure you the bar is being raised every single time. We have carefully and strictly shortlisted the cream among our athletes. We have Asian Games gold medal hopes in the team, more than 50 percent of the team are in the top 6 in their sport in the world rankings. Infact we have found it rather difficult in some sports and some events to choose the players because there has been a tie among the top players. There are instances when 5 players have qualified in more than one sport for us but we can send only the top three so fingers crossed our prospects are pretty good in the Asian Games.