4) Suyash Narayan Jadhav
Suyash Jadhav is the only Indian swimmer at the Rio Paralympics 2016. He became the first Indian para-swimmer to have achieved the ‘A’ qualifying mark for this year’s Paralympics.
“It has been a challenge, particularly last year; I knew I had it in myself to qualify for Rio but I was not getting the chance to represent my country abroad at an international qualification meet. There was even a time last year when I was close to quitting Swimming. But I did not lose hope and eventually got the desired chance and qualified.”
Suyash lost both his hands in the year 2004 to a loose electric wire. He was unaware of the fact that he could take part in swimming competitions until 2 years after the tragic incident, a friend of his told him about the para-swimming events. But now, once he is in the water, his tragic back story fades and it is his dexterity, determination and sheer brute strength that becomes the focus, which is how it should be.
“My father was a National level swimmer, so the motivation comes from there. He wanted to achieve many things in his sport but could not. So it was a motivation for me to try and fulfil my father’s dreams and aspirations, and I am happy to now have the opportunity to represent my country in the pinnacle of Para sporting event.”
Since he qualified for the Paralympics 2016, he moved to Bangalore for training, now he is assisted by a Coach, a Sports Nutritionist, a Physiotherapist, and a Fitness Trainer. He is supported by the GoSports Foundation. He does not hope for a podium finish at Rio this year since it will take a lot more effort and time to do that but he surely has the will to better his own timing.
“When I first came to Bangalore my timing was 33.92 seconds and now it is 33.73. Now our target is to lower it by 0.16 seconds. If I can clock the timing at around 32.04 seconds, I can become a finalist. I believe in my own potential and if I get the opportunity I can definitely have a podium finish in 2020 Games.”
This is what he had to say to our readers, “Never think of what you don’t have, think of what you have and only then you will succeed.”
