CHENNAI: Janaki Raman and Thomas Clinton dribble and pass the basketball. Manikandan catches and shoots it in the opponent’s hoop to score a point. We are at a training basketball match — only, the players here are moving across the court on wheels. “They are the players of the first wheelchair basketball men’s team from Coimbatore,” says Rajan Vellingirinath, the basketball coach of the team, as we continue to watch them at the Ganga Spine Injury Rehabilitation Centre, Coimbatore.
The first team
Where there is a will, there’s a way maybe a frayed expression, but not for the 11 men and four women, who are receiving basketball training under Rajan. It was 32-year-old J Gunasekaran’s idea to form Coimbatore’s first wheelchair basketball team. “From my college days, I have been volunteering in many social campaigns and organising sports events for children. In 2016, I went to Theni district for volunteering at a para-swimming event. Around 300 differently-abled people took part in the event. I was amazed to watch a differently-abled swimmer with no hands swimming with enthusiasm. I witnessed the effort taken by every individual there to break the ‘differently-abled’ tag,” says Guna, founder of Erode-based NGO Sittruli Foundation.
In 2017, Guna volunteered at the Wheelchair Basketball State Championship in Erode. “When I talked to the players and trainers, they said that wheelchair basketball training is available only in Chennai. No other district has the facility. It needs a ramp and a differently-abled restroom attached few metres to the ground,” shares Guna. Concerned about the lack of resources and facilities, he made a few enquiries about the infrastructure needed to have a training set-up. He reached out to several foundations to gather wheelchair-users who were keen to play basketball. In August 2017, he formed Sittruli Foundation to encourage and support para-sports in the city. “In January 2018, I contacted Rajan Vellingiri, an international basketball referee to provide training to the players. We conducted an awareness camp. Around 25 people took part in the camp and 18 of them started training,” he shares.
Price for passion
Special amenities were Guna’s top priority. And that came at a high price because wheelchair basketball requires special wheelchairs that have tough wheels and a good grip. The special wheelchair costs `35,000. “Initially, we had two sports wheelchairs and needed more. In 2018, we conducted the first edition of the marathon to raise funds for the purchase of the wheelchairs. Now, we have ten basketball wheelchairs. In Tamil Nadu, we have wheelchair basketball men’s team from Chennai, Kallakurichi, Kancheepuram, Vellore and Coimbatore. The women’s team is only in Chennai and Coimbatore. The Coimbatore team was formed only last year and it is the first men’s wheelchair basketball team from the city,” says Guna, whose vision is to make Coimbatore the ‘home of para sports’ by building a para sports academy in the city.
At present, around 15 players practice regularly on all Sundays at the rehabilitation centre. The training sessions by Rajan Vellingirinathan is free of cost.