KOCHI: Joby Mathew, the arm-wrestling wonder who stood on his under-developed legs and surprised the world with his upper body strength, beating regular-sized opponents, is happy to have made a mark in the firstever world championship for disabled arm-wrestlers in Poland recently.
Joby, who came back home in Kochi on Tuesday to a rousing welcome, said though a first, the world championship was as professional as or perhaps even more professional than any other world event he has participated.
“It was organised with every bit of professionalism you can expect from any world sporting event. From the moment I had landed in Puck (Poland), we were under the care of the organisers. Everything from accommodation to food to the the event itself were arranged keeping in mind the needs of the disabled,” said Joby, who bagged two bronze medals in the right and left arm 55-kg sitting category of the championship.
With these medals, he has made it to the second stage of the qualification meet for the 2016 Paralympics in Rio, Brazil, to be held in Russia next year.
He said the competitions in the world championship were classified into categories depending on the degree of the contestants’ disability. Joby, who is afflicted with the proximal fimoral focal deficiency that stunted the growth of his legs, won the medals in the arm 1 division of the sitting category. Arm 1 is meant for contestants whose both legs are affected with a disability.
“The competition was tough because of the presence of heavyweights from Russia, Ukrain and Poland,” said the former world arm-wrestling champion, who had also won five gold medals in the World Dwarf Games last year.
He said the championship began with a primary rounds, where each contestant squared off with three opponents. Those who lose more than one bout will be relegated to a losers’ pool and others will move to a winners’ pool.Three slots of the semi final was reserved for those progressing from the winners’ pool and the one for the contestant, who top the losers’ pool.
“The semi final was tough. Though I missed the top spots, I am happy with the bronze medals. The experience, definitely was worth counting,” said the 3’5’’ athlete, who conceded the silver to Ukraine’s Pedorenko Mukola. The gold in his category went to Russia’s Rabinovich Konstantin.
“The Russian team had sent their national team assisted by a coach and military personnel for their protection and boosting the morale,” Joby, who was accompanied by fellow contestants Diljith Singh and Sreemanth S and Indian Arm-Wrestling Federation general secretary Manoj Nair, said.
Diljith has won a bronze in the 65 kg arm 2 category, while Sreemanth bagged a silver in the 75 kg arm 2 category.
Joby said his next aim was to qualify for the bench press event in the 2016 Paralympics in Rio, Brazil. Bench press is an adaptation of power-lifting for people with disabiolities, that put to test the upper body strength of the contestant.
Joby mathew’s winning streak
Born: 1976
Achievements
Won gold in the 29th World Arm-wrestling Championship, Spain
First Indian to bag gold, five of them, in the World Dwarf Games in Michigan
Others
First wheel-chaired fencer in India
Holds a brown belt in karate is a member of the Kerala state parasailing and paragliding team
is a keen swimmer
Aim
2016 Paralympics in Rio
