How Tokyo 2020 Paralympics Changed Indian Sports
A Tale of Utmost Grit
“The Impediment to Action advances action. What Stands in the way becomes the way”
Ryan Holiday in his book The Obstacle is the way.
August 30, 2021
Wednesday
Tokyo, Japan
Three and Counting…
Stretching his hamstring while taking support of his javelin, he was staring toward his goal. He has broken the world record, thrice already, with two consecutive throws and was aiming for another one. More than that, this time, the aim was to win the shining gold. The breaking of the world record can be a sweet consequence. He took his leaps, threw the Javelin but the last attempt was foul. Does it matter?
He won the gold in the T64 category for his record throw of 68.55m, breaking his record of 68/08m set on the same day. The Haryana boy bettered his previous world record of 62.88m, also set by him, three times on the day. His series read 66.95, 68.08, 65.27, 66.71, 68.55, X, last one a foul.
Hailing from Sonepat, Sumit lost his leg in a motorbike accident when he was just 17. Aspiring to be a wrestler, he saw his dreams shattered.
“I had no clue at that time. People used to look at me differently. I had lost my leg and felt that life is finished now. I used to come out of the house late at night to avoid contact with people. It was so difficult; I went into depression. But then after some time, I realised the reality. And I had to accept it.”
But that doesn’t stop him from dreaming again, regardless of any physical impediment. After getting introduced to the Paralympics, he started preparing for another sport. He self-funded his journey to learn the best techniques in Finland. Practising with Olympic Gold Medalist Neeraj Chopra was fruitful to build the mindset for Tokyo.
Desire >> The Most Prestigious Job
Sports is survival in a country like India. For a majority, it is the only lifeline for dignity, the only beacon of hope. Most Indian athletes and Sports personalities aren’t people with good economical support. On a contrary, for them, sports is the way forward to climb out of the generational debt trap, to rise above everything.
Economical Instability becomes the prime reason why most parents chose to keep these young energies away from Sports. Factor in other reasons like the rise of poverty, the lack of good education and exposure to equal opportunities and the Rigid mindset that Only Education can pave their way out of poverty.
Imagine having the most prestigious job in the whole country, the best your education can get you. The Desire of every young individual in the country to see themselves in the position you are sitting, and yet, you are shattering your comfort, even after having an ankle impediment.
“I practice from 10 pm for two hours after all the day’s works are over. I have been managing my game and administrative duties this way for around six years now.”
This is the Story of Suhas Yathiraj, District Magistrate of Gautam Budh Nagar, who won silver in the SL4 category. He had everything, but that was true only for us seeing him from our lens. For him, he still had a lot to achieve, a lot to work for. It is never easy to beat the world no. 1, and that too a competitor who is 15 years younger. But Suhas gave him a tight competition to his french opponent Lucas Mazur, eventually losing to him after winning the first set (21–17) by 17–21 & 15–21.
While preparing for Tokyo Paralympics 2020, Suhas talked about balance. With great powers comes great responsibilities, and managing a goal for self and nation while serving the nation as a sincere civil servant was not easy. But Suhas always focused on his strengths. His discipline to always show up for practice, maintaining a diet that improves his performance and falling just short of getting at the top of the podium, speaks mountains about the lessons we can learn from him.
“Do your deed and you will get the results. I am not putting myself under any pressure. If God has brought me to this level, then I am going to put in all my efforts,” he said in an interview.
2020’s Performance >> Sum of 48 years
Sumit and Suhas were among two of the 17 heroes who put India’s flag on top of other nations. Their story was one of the many chapters that were created in the two weeks history books at the Tokyo Paralympics. The athletes were the embodiment of the New India that the nation was envisioning.
India’s story with the Paralympics has never been sweeter. Making their debut 8 years after the 1st Paralympics was officially held in 1960, India was only able to bring home a dozen of medals. That’s 12 medals in 52 years covering 13 events. The medal to Paralympic ratio is below 1, standing at 0.9.
For leading Olympic experts and Sports commentators, there is nothing to surprise. That’s because India’s journey in the Olympics isn’t showing a different picture. With only 23 medals in 23 Olympic appearances, a medal ratio of 1, what can you expect from the different athletes? As it turned out, the different athletes were different for a reason. They delivered in a way that silenced a lot of critics this year.
In the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, India proudly stood at 24th spot, winning record 19 medals including 5 Gold, 8 Silver and 6 bronze, the most to date. It is their best performance so far and it is almost thrice the record medal tally of 7 that India won at Olympics 2020. Obviously, there was an improvement in performance for both contingents, but there is something else too that was fuelling this improved performance.
The Catalysts of change
The Enabling Factors
As much as athletes are to be appreciated for making the nation proud, there were a lot of developments over the years that complimented this paramount shift.
Government of India’s TOPS
(Target Olympic Podium Scheme)
TOPS (Target Olympic Podium Scheme) is a flagship program of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports which is an attempt to assist India’s top athletes. The Scheme looks to add a premium to the preparations of these athletes so that they can win medals in the Olympics. The Scheme currently supports 104 TOPS Core Group athletes across 13 sports disciplines & Hockey (M & W) teams and 269 TOPS Development Group athletes across 12 sports disciplines.
The scheme is fully functional and has been extending all requisite support to probable athletes identified for the 2020 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games including foreign training, international competition, equipment and coaching camp besides monthly stipend of Rs. 50,000/- for each athlete.
Rs. 765 cr were spent over 6 years of which Rs 8.2 crore on para-sports from 2018–19 to 2021–22. All 54 athletes of the contingent were beneficiaries of the TOPS scheme. A different wave was witnessed after the disappointment of Rio (even though we managed to get 5 medals).
According to an Indian Express report, The number of athletes looking to participate doubled, from 700 to 1800 in a span of 4 years, eventually allowing India to send the highest contingent to date.
Separate specialized equipment to athletes on demand
Avani Lakheri, the first woman to win the Gold medal in the Paralympics and a Bronze medalist in the 10m Rifle shooting in the R-2 category got a computerized digital target.
Sumit Antil, Gold medalist T64 in Javelin, got the prosthetic blade worth INR 7 lakhs.
Bhavina Patel, the first Silver medalist in Table Tennis got practising partner robot, sanctioned financial proposals worth INR 7.04 lakhs
“Earlier, people didn’t know what the Paralympics were. It’s improved, but it’s not enough. There are still places where people think, ‘yeh bechare hai.’ That has to change. We are not helpless. Look at what we’ve achieved. Our Paralympians have brought more medals than Olympians. And there’s more we can still achieve.”
PPP- Public-Private Partnership
Go Sports Foundation
GO Sports took responsibility to provide private sponsorship to these often shadowed para athletes.
“So, for Avani, the Government looked after certain training and competitions abroad, and we paid for her coaching here. For Sumit Antil, we looked after his prosthetics and they took care of his travel to tournaments.”
Olympic Gold Quest — 10 medal winners from the 19 medalists were sponsored by This Non Governmental body.
MISSION OLYMPIC CELL
“The Mission Olympic Cell is a dedicated body created to assist the athletes who are selected under the TOP Scheme. The MOC is under the Chairmanship of the Director-General, Sports Authority (DG, SAI). The Committee meetings are attended by representatives of respective National Sports Federations (NSFs) and Project Officers of the SAI besides other members. The idea of the MOC is to debate, discuss and decide the processes and methods so that the athlete receives the best assistance. The MOC also focuses on the selection, exclusion and retention of athletes, coaches, training institutes that can receive TOPS assistance.”
If a contingent of 54 can get 19 medals, i.e, a success rate of 30%, Imagine the medal tally when we send athletes equal to China. India’s future is bright only when the fuel is burnt today.
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