Despite a spinal cord injury, this young man is winning against abled-bodied archery players

In 2015, Murthy Naveen Babu was working on a construction site in Kuwait when a wall fell over him. He has very little recollection of the event as he slipped into a coma for three months following the accident.

On waking up, doctors told him he had suffered from a spinal cord injury (T11 injury) and had lost movement of his lower body due to paralysis. He was to spend his life confined to a wheelchair.

After spending eight months in a Kuwait hospital on his own, and with only the hospital staff for support, Babu returned to India and underwent rehabilitation and treatment at the Global Hospital in Hyderabad. He continued his physiotherapy sessions in Kadapa, his hometown in Andhra Pradesh.

Eight years later, Babu is not just a para-athlete but also an archery champion who competes with able-bodied athletes. He has won many medals at state and national-level championships. His journey is one of strength and fortitude, and the courage to fight against all odds.

A class eight dropout at the time of his accident, Babu had worked for many years as a goldsmith along with his brother before he decided to give it up in search of something more exciting.

“For a couple of years, I whiled away my time, biking across the country along with my friends for a couple of years, before the opportunity to work in Kuwait came along. Little did I know that taking it up would turn my life upside down,” Babu tells SocialStory.

While physiotherapy helped to some extent to ease the “tightness” in the body, he found no improvement in movement.

Despite many treatments, he was unable to get back to his old self. Frustrated, and cursing his fate, Babu slipped into a state of hopelessness.

Currently, he is completely wheelchair-bound, but sometimes uses calipers with his upper body strength to move a few steps.

Life gets a new focus

In 2019, a friend referred him to the Association of People with Disability (APD) in Bengaluru, which brought him a singular focus on sports.

APD is a Bengaluru-based NGO that runs programmes in all South Indian states to enable, equip and empower children and adults with a range of disabilities including locomotor, spinal cord injury, speech and hearing, cerebral palsy, and to an extent, mental issues. It has impacted over 7,00,000 lives so far.

“Till then, I was totally dependent on my family to get through my daily activities. My brother stayed with me for a month after I joined APD. But slowly, with the help of staff and trainers, I was able to become independent after being in the rehab centre for four months,” he says.

Shankar Sir, one of the APD staff, introduced him to wheelchair basketball, and took him to a few matches in Chennai. Seeing Babu’s interest, one of the coaches Mahesh started training him and Babu started participating in para-basketball tournaments for Karnataka at the State level where he won gold and silver medals. He also won medals at the Chennai and Bengaluru marathons during this period.

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck in 2020, resulting in all tournaments coming to a stop, Babu used his time to continue with his home exercises and also uploaded YouTube videos on how people with disabilities can manage their lives with a few changes. He also used this free time to continue his studies and passed his 10^th board exams.

“During this time, I also came across some YouTube videos on archery and found it very interesting. I was searching for places where I could learn the sport somewhere near my hometown. A year ago, I joined the Vijaya Archery Academy to learn archery,” he says.

He decided to take it seriously and found that it was better than playing basketball.

“Basketball is a team sport and requires a lot of coordination, and in which I compete as a para athlete. In archery, I can put in my individual effort and also compete with able-bodied players. I can focus better,” Babu adds.

Babu started gaining attention when he started winning tournaments at the national level. He won the bronze in the 3rd National Field-Archery Online E Championship 2022, a silver medal in the 6th Karnataka state-level Indoor Archery Championship 2022, and a gold medal in the senior category barebow five spots (Regular) at the 13th National Field Indoor Archery Championship in 2022-2023, held in Bhopal.

Currently, in a dilemma about whether to represent Karnataka or his home state Andhra Pradesh, he believes winning is important.

“Udhay Sir and Kirti Ma’am of Vijaya Archery Academy in Bengaluru are providing me with the required training,” he says.

Babu works as a peer trainer in APD, a job that helps him earn an income. On weekend, he practises archery at the Academy.

But life has not been without its fair share of challenges.

“My biggest challenge initially was to sit on the wheelchair and hold the bow. But through practice, I was able to overcome the discomfort. While I was in Kadapa, I didn’t have money to commute for practice sessions. So I dragged myself on the wheelchair for 12km each day,” he says.

He has not been able to buy a bow yet as it costs between Rs 10,000 and 4 lakh. Currently, Babu borrows a bow from his coach to participate in tournaments.

So far, he has only received support only from APD as he says he’s unaware of how to approach government agencies for funding. He’s happy that APD is offering support by way of providing for his travel expenses for tournaments and practice sessions and paying for his coaching fees.

“I am looking forward to representing India in international events, and am also set to start studying for my PUC course,” Babu says.

(The story has been updated with the latest impact figures)