These differently abled Indian sportspersons are defying odds and breaking records

In a country where the popularity of sports is limited to cricket, football, and may be hockey, and the sportspersons excelling in them, it’s heartening to hear of those who defy the odds to become champions in a sport they have chosen to pursue.

We are talking of differently abled sportspersons who, despite various challenges, are keeping the Indian flag flying high by making a mark in sports.

Here are five sportspersons who have earned our admiration, respect, and love for their will and fortitude.

Visually impaired chess player Darpan Inani shows he is no pawn to be shuffled around

Twenty-four-year-old Darpan is the highest rated visually impaired chess player in India with an Elo rating of 2,053. He has represented the country four times in the World Blind Chess Championship.

What’s impressive is that he has also competed with sighted players at State-level chess tournaments as part of the U13, U15 and U17 categories, and has represented Gujarat at the nationals. He became the youngest player to win the National Blind Chess Championship at the age of 16 in 2010.

He bagged the Bronze at the World Junior Blind Chess Championship (U20) at Serbia in 2013, the first ever individual medal to have been won by India in blind chess.

Darpan’s love for chess is such that he is always ready for a game. His goal is to be the first visually impaired Indian to attain the title of ‘International Master’. He was featured in Algorithms, an award-winning documentary directed by Ian McDonald, which details the little-known sporting field of blind chess in India.

Losing a leg didn’t stop this 24-year-old from playing football

At a time when most teenagers find reasons not to play a sport, Vysakh SR from Kozhikode in Kerala did not let go of his passion for football, despite losing his leg in an accident.

The 24-year-old, despite being an amputee, is a part of the Kerala volleyball amputee team, and has also showcased his skills as a professional footballer.

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Recently, a video posted on Twitter shows Vysakh scoring a goal for his team. The video, which received 20,000 views, also caught the attention of NorthEast United FC’s coach Eelco Schattorie.

Impressed by his courage and skills, Vysakh was invited to Guwahati to participate in the training sessions of NorthEast United.

From Kashmir to the US, the story of the Valley’s first woman wheelchair basketball player

There are many Indian athletes who are physically challenged but are still setting benchmarks in various sporting events. Among them is 24-year-old Inshah Bashir who is the first woman wheelchair basketball player from Jammu & Kashmir.

Inshah was left wheelchair-bound at the age of 15 when she met with an accident that caused a spinal injury. A year earlier, she had been diagnosed with a stomach ulcer that led to bleeding when she coughed.

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Following this, in Class XII she was treated for a major spinal injury after which she was left on wheelchair support for the rest of her life. In addition to the lack of medical facility in her district, it was quite impossible to get proper medical facility.

She was also invited by the US Consulate to participate in the Sports Visitor Program 2019 to be held at North Carolina, US, which took place earlier this year

How 24-year-old Ankush Saha overcame his disability and took the big swing to shine in golf

Twenty-four-year-old Ankush Saha has braved all odds to become a golf player despite his disability. He was one among the 150 golfers with intellectual disabilities to have played at the 2019 Special Olympics World Summer Games held in Abu Dhabi. He even went on to win the silver medal for India.

Today, Ankush has a host of laurels to his credit. In 2014, he won the second level at the Special Olympics Golf Masters in Macao, China, and after three years, bagged the bronze after playing the fifth level in the same tournament. His achievements also found a mention in the prestigious Limca Book of Records in 2015.

How Vidisha Baliyan defied all odds to ace the Deaflympics and become Miss Deaf World 2019

It is said that strength does not just come from physical capabilities but also from indomitable will. This rings true in the case of Vidisha Baliyan. The 21-year-old Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, is a talented international-level tennis player.

It wasn’t easy for Vidisha after all, as at the age of five, her parents found out that she was partially deaf and had a speech disorder. When the doctor suggested she be sent to a special school, her mother, Dr Deekshika Kumar, and father, Vipin Kumar, refused.

Despite of which her parents wanted their daughter to grow up in an environment that was free from stigma. When Vidisha joined MN Public School in Muzaffarnagar, she had no choice but to match the learning pace of others.

At the age of 12 when she threw herself into volleyball, tennis, and basketball. However, she developed a liking towards tennis since it did not involve much of a team effort. From then on, there was no stopping he

Vidisha’s love for sports drove her to bag two silver medals at the national games and even secure the fifth position at the Deaflympics in Turkey in 2017. A few years later, in a quest to try something different, she took to modelling. She surpassed all odds to become the first Indian to be crowned the Miss Deaf World this year in South Africa.

(Edited by Rekha Balakrishnan)

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