Wednesday was a red-letter day for wheelchair racers Manikandan Jothi and Manoj Sabapathi on the World Para Athletics Grand Prix in New Delhi. The Tamil Nadu para athletes completed 1-2 on the rostrum within the males’s 400 metre (T54) remaining, solely the second time they’ve medalled at a world occasion.
“It feels good to complete on the rostrum. A medal at an occasion like a Grand Prix is vital for rating factors,” Manikandan instructed The Indian Specific after his occasion.
Wheelchair racing comes with its set of hurdles; from lack of spare components and repair centres in India, and an costly racing cycle. India has a handful of wheelchair racers with no more than 20 competing on the Nationals. Wheelchair racing wasn’t Manikandan’s first alternative.
Manikandan began off in excessive soar however switched to wheelchair racing on the suggestion of his coach. “I bought fortunate that I had a sponsor, so I might afford the cycle,” Manikandan mentioned. “The cycle may be very costly and that is likely one of the the explanation why many Indians haven’t considered this sport. Even BMW makes wheelchair cycles,” he added
Even minor repairs of the wheelchair race cycle could be a main headache.
“There are not any restore facilities within the nation and shopping for the cycle may be very costly. If there’s even a small injury in our cycle, it prices us a bomb . My cycle prices round Rs 8 lakh however the high-end ones value about Rs 30 lakhs to 40 lakhs,” Manikandan mentioned.
As a result of lack of service facilities and correct technicians, the coaches act as technicians. “Our coach Vijay Saradhi learnt in regards to the cycle and easy methods to restore it in Thailand at a workshop. So if we face a difficulty, he fixes it for us,” Manoj mentioned.
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Within the 400 metres, athletes sitting on the wheelchair begin on the curve and speed up within the final 100m, just like the able-bodied competitors. The foundations of lane change are additionally the identical. If the cycle crosses the lane line, the athlete is disqualified.
“It’s just like the quarter-mile races. The beginning, the curve and the acceleration on the finish,” Manikandan mentioned.
“The one distinction is how we function the wheelchair in the course of the race. We rotate the wheels to push the cycle and generate velocity, and use the gears to navigate. We now have two gears, the best gear is to maintain the cycle straight and the left gear helps us in turning on the curve,” he defined.
A lot of the Indian wheelchair racers come from Tamil Nadu as the federal government has invested within the sport by offering the cycles to the para-athletes.
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Each Manikandan and Manoj prepare on the JawaharLal Nehru Stadium in Chennai. “We now have six racers in Chennai because the state authorities has purchased cycles and distributed them among the many para athletes. So, we atleast have a bunch to coach with,” Manoj mentioned.
Other than Tamil Nadu, states like Gujarat, Rajasthan and Odisha have wheelchair racers however the expertise pool in these states is far smaller.
Nationwide Para Athletics coach Satyanarayan believes that India has expertise however the exorbitant value is a deterrent.
“It’s robust for these athletes to spend money on wheelchair racing. It’s a fan favorite occasion in para athletics as a result of it’s thrilling to observe,” Satyanarayana mentioned.
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“The Tamil Nadu authorities is planning to open a wheelchair racing academy and so they have bought a number of of those cycles to encourage an increasing number of athletes to take it up,” he added.
Each Manikandan and Manoj hope to make an affect on the upcoming World Para Athletics Championships in September in New Delhi.”Our subsequent goal is to qualify for the World Para Athletics Championships and carry out in entrance of our house crowd, so extra para athletes take it up,” Manikandan mentioned.