Page 17 - Sportability

the other. His age is 18 years. Look at his performance national first blind athlete runs in the Olympics, winning
in the high jump. India’s first athlete wins a silver medal the Arjuna Award. The second youngest athlete wins a
in the Para Olympics at the age of 18. This is the power medal in the Paralympics and at the age of eighteen gets
of the Para Olympics. He was returning after winning a eight crore rupees, Arjuna Award, and a job as a class one
silver medal in the Tokyo Olympics. He asked me, what officer. And we ask our children, what will you do at just
will we do now sir? I said we would compete with able- 18 years of age? 8 crores in white money at the age of 18,
bodied. Just think, the athlete who cannot walk properly, a job as a class one officer, Arjuna Award at the age of 18!
whose height is 167 cm, that athlete is speaking to me. This is the transformative power of sports.
I have told him that now he has to compete with seven
feet tall people, whose both hands and legs are fine. We The number three athlete is the youngest girl who
trained for six months. After only six months of rigorous participates in the Paralympics. What is her age? 17
training, we entered the state championship and took years. A 17-year-old girl. She used to take wrestling
home the gold. After that, the national championship training in a Delhi government academy. She got injured
begins. The lineup begins. Twelve athletes are standing during training. Her spinal cord C5 broke. She became
together. My athlete is the youngest. Nobody is paying wheelchair-bound. She cannot walk. What will she do?
attention to him because one leg is damaged. Everyone During rehab, she came to know that para-sports also
was thinking that he had come to participate casually. exist. And she came to Nehru Stadium. We started to
The competition began. Slowly as the competition train her. Training. Within six months, she participates in
progresses, the whole stadium comes and stands to the Junior World Championship. In the next six months -
watch the jump. And my athlete wins the gold medal in her age is 16 years - she participates in the Senior World
the nationals with a height of 206 feet along with the Championship and within the next year, she participates
able-bodied. Immediately Modiji tweets that this is the in the Tokyo Paralympics at the age of 17 and she is the
power of sports for the disabled. He is the most unique youngest girl. So this is the power of sports. When after
athlete in the world who, despite being disabled, has the Tokyo Olympics, we all went to meet Modi ji, I was
competed with the able-bodied and won the gold in the asked what we do in para-sports. I said that this is a field

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