The incredible story behind double amputee and India’s top Paralympian, Suyash Jadhav

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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