Last week you must have heard a lot about Paralympics and why not India's performance was awesome. From 2012, 2016, and now 2020 the performance has been improving. Before this we could only win 12 medals in the last 48 years and in this single year we have won 19 medals Out of which 5 are gold. Most of the medals have come from athletics just read the winner's list-



We need to look at why it happened and also at what challenges we face now is also important So that we can perform even better in the next Paralympics. We will do exactly this in our blog post.

 How did India win so many medals in the Paralympics?

How is India improving?

First is money, things improve when govt spends money. Govt spent more than 800cr on para-athletes from 2018 to 2021. TOPS scheme was also launched through this scheme they focused on particular athletes and particular fields. If you map this out then you can see after its launch in 2014. There is continuous improvement in that field or athletes who were covered in this scheme. Not only the training and types of equipment were provided through this scheme but also Rs.50000 per month stipend was also received. This protects athletes from societal pressures like 'how will you earn and support family' and they can focus on their training. This TOPS scheme has played a crucial role in improving performance.

Through the tops scheme generally, all the athletes' expenses were covered. But for para-athletes some specialized expenses were done digitized target installed at Avni Lekhra's house, Sumit Antil got prosthetic blades of Rs.7 lakh, Bhavina Patel got an updated practice partner robot. These types of specialized expenses are the reason why athletes were able to focus and perform better.

Para athletes say that they were provided with an equal amount of facilities as other athletes Javelin thrower Sumit Antil, Discuss thrower Yogesh Katuniya both said. Facilities just like other athletes were taken to foreign for training or providing coach even para-athletes were getting the same benefits, because of which they were able to win medals. Across the country, sports facilities are also taken care of. It may be the Gandhinagar center or any other center's underdeveloped infrastructure used to create a sense of missing out for para-athletes. Now if you see there were a total of 700 para-athletes in 2015. Their number has increased to 1500 in 2019, this jump shows the environment so that even more para-athletes should come forward and make India proud.

 

What are the problems?

Olympic athletes have a problem were getting less corporate backing/sponsorship. Other celebs get it in abundance but this can be solved with public-private partnership Companies like Gosport's foundation or Olympic gold quest. They work with athletes and get them sponsorships. Go sports foundation works with athletes to get sponsorship from Sony pictures, Indusind bank, AT&T under CSR initiative. 10 athletes out of all those supported by the Olympic gold conquest won medals. These were the good things as to how athletes performed and why.

 

But if we don't look at our weaknesses then we won't be able to improve or perform better. That's why we should listen to the problems of para-athletes equally. One researcher named Padmini has written about the challenges our para-athletes who have earned gold medals like Murlikant Petkar in Paralympic, he didn't receive recognition for decades. People started recognizing him in the 2010s. Other than this the para-athletes who have just won medals like Sumit Antil or Avni Lekhra we are hearing their name recently. But they are very popular on the international circuit because they have excelled in their sports and brought pride to India.


It's a sad thing that neither were you aware of their names nor did I reason behind this low visibility is media's failure. The media keeps running behind Bollywood celeb, keeps showing Taimur days/night but Paralympians are neglected. They only get focus when some game is going on or the media thinks they can earn from their photos or interviews. Asking them foolish questions for gaining TRP, otherwise, they are never in the spotlight.

 

One big problem is you remember there was a case of Vinod Kumar whose medal was taken back. This happened because in Paralympics classification is an important thing. If you are classified in the right category then you qualify otherwise you get disqualified. In India, there is a scarcity of internationally certified experts who work with athletes.


Padmini wrote that when media talks about Paralympians then you get a lot of inspirational stories, but a scientific reporter who talks on ground level or talks on technical things is scarce. Even in journalistic circuits, the awareness is less. In fact, if you talk about laws- there was a law passed in 2016 where they were recognized. Before this, there was a problem with recognition as well. She says even their grievance redressal problem like if there is human rights violation with athletes, or like maintaining the international standards there is a deep lacking in India. Without which we cannot create world-class athletes.

 

       Now Paralympics completed, we won medals and we celebrated. So I thought this should be discussed. Hopefully, you got some new information and new direction of thoughts in this post Share it with friends Comment your thoughts.

 

Jai Hind. Vande Mataram