He may have stopped running on a track, but in life, he’s racing at a fast pace. Abhishek was just one-year-old when his father had taken him to a hospital when he was suffering from fever. This was where he was given an infected injection and his right arm was afflicted with polio.

Despite his disability, Abhishek’s family decided to admit him to a regular school where he realized his love for sports. He started with athletics, wherein he won various medals, long-distance running being his favorite. Achieving all this was when he was participating in the normal category was certainly a huge feat. This is when he was spotted by Mr. Rajendra Khandal, who ran Adarsh Mandir — a sporting club. It was him who introduced Abhishek to cross-country running. For nine long years, he was a successful athlete where he kept on winning medals and would have gone on to become huge, that was until tragedy struck him again.

Sadly, in October 2010, while practicing for a state-level tournament, Abhishek injured his knee. A doctor operated upon it and advised him to avoid running. However, running was all Abhishek cared for, so disregarding the doctor’s advice, he still competed in the event. He even won a Bronze medal in the event, but little did he know that his knee would not allow him to run again.

But perhaps everything happens for a reason. And in Abhishek’s case, the reason was archery. Abhishek’s cousin, Sandeep Gawai, was an archer and he motivated Abhishek to join him. Abhishek was quite interested in the idea. “I didn’t know anything about archery before that, but once I tried it, it changed my life,” says Abhishek. He went on to win several state and national-level championships. It was quite a difficult training process though. “Since I didn’t have a right hand, I had to tie a string to the arrow and use my teeth to pull it while using my left hand to support the bow,” says Abhishek. When asked what he loves about the sport, he says, “Archery has given me something to look forward to in life. It is a game of patience and has taught me to keep in control many other aspects of my life.”

Besides archery, Abhishek has a keen interest in studying as well. He has completed a Masters in Social Science at DNC College, Nagpur, and further plans to do a Masters in Social Work.

Abhishek has already won many accolades. Abhishek is the first and only Para Archery Player with Silver Medal in Maharashtra State Archery Championship and now he dreams of taking part in the Paralympic Games in 2020. Abhishek, who has even represented Nagpur University for two years, is one of the most inspiring athletes who is a living example of someone for whom giving up was never an option.

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The first para-athlete to win the country’s highest sporting award who has brought two Olympic gold medals for the country. Devendra jhajharia has time and again shown that physical limitations can never stop a determined mind. It is not easy to maintain consistency for so many years. Devendra’s grit and strong willpower have helped him break his own record!

When Devendra was just eight years old, he had a freak accident. He was climbing a tree when he touched an electrical cable by mistake. The cable was not visible due to the tree leaves. Devendra was electrocuted as a result. He was immediately taken to the hospital. Unfortunately, it was too late. His left hand had to be amputated.

Devendra did not let the amputation stop him from excelling in sports. In fact, he used to win lots of prizes at school events. Devendra was spotted by Dronacharya Awardee coach RD Singh in 1997 during a school sports day event. The coach encouraged him to take up sport full time and helped guide Devendra on his early sporting endeavors. He soon moved to college in 2000 and was introduced to the sport of javelin throw by coach Dr. Satyapal Singh.

In 2002, Devendra won the gold medal at the FESPIC Games in Korea. He qualified for his first Paralympic Games in 2004 in Athens, where he went on to set a new world record with 62.15m, eclipsing the old mark of 59.77m; the throw won him the gold medal at the Paralympics. An Arjuna Award followed his performance in Athens and in 2012 he was also conferred the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian award.

Having created history by becoming the first Indian to win Paralympic gold in 2004, Devendra once again rewrote the history by winning another gold medal and breaking his own previous record, 12 years later, at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. What makes his achievement even better is the fact that his sporting discipline wasn’t a part of the 2008 and 2012 editions of the Paralympics, but he continued his training despite that.

In January 2018, he was awarded the Khel Ratna, the highest sporting honor of the Country – the first-ever Indian para-athlete to receive the honor. After a successful experience at the highest level, Devendra plans to give back to the sport by mentoring future Paralympians for India while continuing to train for Tokyo 2020. 

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Malavika Iyer lost both her hands after a tragic accident when she was just 13. On May 26, 2002, a 13-year-old Malvika decided to fix her torn pair of jeans by sticking the edge with glue. In search of a blunt object, she ventured into the garage of her Bikaner home. When she found the object she thought it would work, Malvika hurried with it to her room. Little did she know, it was an explosive grenade. The family was unaware that an ammunition depot in the region had exploded months ago, and bomb pieces lay scattered in numerous pieces of the area. The moment Malvika hit the grenade on the fabric, it exploded. Malvika lost both her hands in the explosion and sustained severe injuries to her legs including paralysis of the nerves. For the first 6 months, she couldn’t walk and was confined to a wheelchair.

After initially being confined to a wheelchair, she learned how to walk again and use a pair of prosthetic hands. She finished her class 10 with the help of a writer, and went on to achieve a state rank, and even completed her Ph.D. Ms. Iyer proved that nothing is impossible if one puts their mind to it. One very significant factor which helped her in her recovery was self-love. She realized that until you loved and celebrated your life you would never get over the insecurities which surround any disability, be it physical or mental.

Malvika has given many TEDx talks, which were the beginning of many speeches. She was invited to the UN Headquarters and even to Co-Chair the World Economic Forum’s India Economic Summit in New Delhi.

Malvika Iyer admits and accepts that her life has been a roller coaster ride, full of ups and downs, and sudden twists and turns. She now stands up for people with disabilities and wants to change the way normal people look at the differently-abled ones. She believes in the philosophy that being yourself is the greatest power you can have. What you look like or what you lack, doesn’t change that. A bad phase or a disability is just a chapter in your book, it is not the entire story. The only person you can write your happily ever after is .. YOU.

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Briju Mohan is a left-arm amputee. At the age of 28, he lost his arm in a bike accident. Dancing had consistently been enthusiasm and one of my first thoughts on the hospital bed was how to do salsa with one hand. Thanks to my friends, soon I was on stage with them performing in Singapore. That really boosted my confidence to be up there continuing to do what I love to do, said Briju.

Today, he is one of the co-founders/trustees for a non-profit organization in India – One Step at a Time and one of the main initiatives he drives as a part of his NGO is to create accessible opportunities for PwDs to pursue the passion of dance and its different forms. He further told that “His group wants to perform and consistently they fight to get rid of any awkwardness and misconceptions around the point of incapacity through dance.”

Today Briju Mohan is learning contemporary dance form and Salsa is known to be his forte.

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An army veteran, who lost his right leg in the Kargil war of 1999 is now India’s first blade runner, who says disability should actually be understood as “this ability.”

He was 25 when he was hit by mortar fire and shrapnel from the explosion had pierced his stomach and his legs, and he was left in a pool of his own blood. When he was rushed to the nearest hospital, Military Hospital Akhnoor, the doctors, apparently, pronounced him dead at first glance — his wounds were grievous.

However, a senior specialist who was visiting the hospital took charge of him soon after and he was not ready to give up that easily. By the time the Major was revived and got back his consciousness, the hospital staff informed him that part of his leg was amputated as gangrene had set in.

As a major part of his recovery, the Major began to play golf in the last half of 2000. “Sports is the fastest way to build the correct attitude,” says the Major. “And with the correct attitude, you don’t feel like you are disabled or an amputee.

He defied the amputation to run marathons and says he recognized it as a challenge and failed to admit defeat to the negative thoughts. He made up his mind to give his life a brand new purpose and ensure that his “quality of life” was never compromised.

Singh has completed about 18 marathons successfully and has a three-point success mantra – accept the truth of reality, figure out how to control your mind, and increase your ability to accomplish what you wish for.

Not only did running as an amputee change Singh’s day-to-day life, but it also helped him change people’s attitudes towards the disabled.

He credits the training granted by the Indian Army to fuel his determination and has advised several disabled troops and soldiers to never give up and stay cheerful in every situation.

DP Singh’s extraordinary journey from being a military officer to an amputee marathon runner has given him recognition as a motivational speaker – and he has been a source of inspiration to many.

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At the age of fourteen, while flying a kite, Dhaval Khatri lost both his hands due to electric shock, when he accidentally hold the electric wire rather than kite flying thread. His heart had stopped beating for a few seconds only to be revived again by a doctor who was passing by. Even though he was rushed to the nearest hospital, his hands had to be amputated as they were burnt badly. The school where he was learning didn’t permit him to continue his education. So he got enrolled in another school and try to continue his education. Later he graduated from college. 

When he was in the hospital, his mother made him practice holding a pen and a pencil. Gradually, he started to sketch and paint. For full six months, he dedicated himself towards it and got a foothold on it and Now, he can draw sketches and make paintings fluently. So far he has completed around 300 paintings. He has additionally been a part of several TV shows and has additionally performed several live painting shows.

Dhaval Khatri calls himself “an artist, not by choice but by chance.” Here are the few photographs of him sketching and painting.

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Suyash is an Indian Para swimmer competing in the S7 category. He is one of the Indian Para swimmers who have accomplished the ‘A’ qualifying mark for the 2016 Paralympics in Rio and is being upheld by the GoSports Foundation through the Para Champions Program in front of his Paralympics journey.

Suyash was born in 1993 in Solapur, Maharashtra. He began swimming at a young age, following in his father’s footsteps who was a national level swimmer. Suyash wants to fulfill his father’s dream one day by competing and winning medals at the international stage.

Tragedy struck in Class 6 when a routine day of fun and games ended with Suyash suffering serious injuries to his upper limbs after getting accidentally electrocuted by unprotected wiring at a construction site. Both Suyash’s arms had to be amputated and he subsequently spent six months in hospital following the incident. Suyash, however, did not give up on his dreams and his love for swimming.

He continued to compete in differently-abled competitions locally and began to show promise. Not long after he started competing and winning medals for India at the international level, fulfilling his childhood dream.

Suyash became the first Indian para swimmer to record the ‘A’ qualifying mark for 2016 Paralympics in Rio and left a mark on the biggest stage of them all. Not only was he India’s lone swimmer at the 2016 Paralympics, but he also set new personal bests in two of his three events at the Games. Suyash also won a Silver medal at the 2017 IDM Berlin World Para Swimming World Series and represented India at the 2017 IPC World Para Swimming Championships in Mexico City.

“You can accomplish anything with sheer hard work. Think of what you have and not what you don’t have,” said para-swimmer Suyash Jadhav 

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