Though the movement reached India slightly late, its not an excuse for the lack of awareness in our subcontinent. True to the saying that India is a sleeping giant, we don’t lack behind in talent at all it is just the attitude that needs to be changed. Many may argue that the facilities provided by our government aren’t adequate, which is why even the able bodied sports is suffering. But after experiencing the grill for 33 months, I realized that we have the facilities, its just that we don’t avail them, mostly again owing to lack of awareness. More over corruption prevails here too!
However, inspite of all the above India too has its own governing body, The Paralympic Committee of India (PCI). It is a National Sports Federation recognized by the government of India (in 2004) at par with Indian Olympic Association. PCI is the apex body with 14 individual sports federation and 24 state units under its belt. Although recent, PCI boasts of 3 Padmashris, 17 Arjuna awardees, 3 Paralympic medals and 3 Dronacharya awardees.
I was privileged to be the Indian Team Attachee at the London Paralympics 2012.Being the only woman in the contingent, it was a moment of great pride to witness the glorious silver we won. H.N Girisha, F 42 category, (each sporting discipline is divided into categories on the basis of the severity of the disability),high jump, gave us this opportunity. The feeling when you see your nations flag rise high amongst the others is exhilarating. A moment of high patriotism. Another interestingly encouraging fact is that though we were just a contingent of 10 athletes, all 10 found a place in the top ranks of their individual sports namely swimming, athletics, shooting and powerlifting. Isn’t this enough of an indicator to the sort of talent we have? These athletes need motivation and a morale boost from all of us. They are the real stars lost in a crowd of smoke.
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Amrita Singh
(This article is written by Amrita Singh, Class of 2016 at IIM Lucknow. The writer served as Assistant Director at Paralympic Committee of India. She will now be pursuing her summers at McKinsey & Co.)
Comments
Sushman Das
Amazing work,Amrita !
10 Sep 2015, 05.06 PM