Indian Para Athletes’ performance at the recently concluded Asian Para Games 2023 has been nothing short of exemplary. They returned with a record tally of 111 medals a record 111 medals including 29 gold, 31 silver and 51 bronze.
While the para athletes are giving it their all to bring laurels to the country, their struggle for basic facilities still continues. They seek improvements in several areas that would help them take their game a notch higher to the next level.
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Bhavina Patel seeks better wheelchair accessibility
“There is a lot of improvement from before but to take it to the next level several areas require improvement,” says Para Table Tennis ace Bhavina Patel. She bagged bronze medal in the Singles at the Asian Para Games.
“There are still a lot of government offices that are not wheelchair accessible. When you go to foreign countries you never feel disabled. Everything is so accessible. Facilities like these will make us feel more independent,” Bhavina was quoted by PTI.
She further added that states need to come up with special policies for Para Athletes. “A lot of the states don’t have policies for para athletes. That should be made as soon as possible. There are differences in facilities of para athletes and normal athletes, so that should be completed.”
“The para athletes are trying to improve at their own level but if they have the support of these things then they can do better,” she added.
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Para-shuttler Krishna Nagar demands a bigger hall for them to train. “Most big tournaments have big halls. But a lot of the times the halls are small at the time of training (in India). It leads to slight issue as the shuttle travels fast or just feels weird to us.”
Krishna bagged the silver medal in singles at the Asian Para Games. He trains in Jaipur at a facility that has 11 halls. However he feels the government needs to devolop such facilities in many states. “The academies that are being developed should note the dimensions,” he added.
Sports Minister assured better infrastructure
Sports Minister Anurag Thakur said on Tuesday that the government is actively working to provide the infrastructure needed for para athletes.
“We are making some new centres for para games in Bhopal and a few other place. If there is one big centre in each zone. We will also talk to some state governments that some modifications be made in them so they can be used for games,” he said.
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