CHENNAI: Back in 2012, Vinod Kumar was a 32-year-old living a mundane life in Rohtak, Haryana. He used to run a small grocery store near the Rajiv Gandhi Sports Complex, and his main highlight of the day used to be seeing fit and strong athletes thronging to the stadium for their training. Vinod may have harboured a dream of representing the country in big-ticket events, but a spinal injury suffered in 2002 had rendered him paralysed from the waist below.
Managing to earn only a meagre sum, which was only enough to keep him and wife Anita afloat, Vinod even enquired about para sports but decided not to pursue it after knowing about the expenses involved. It all changed in 2016 with Deepa Malik, currently president of the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI), creating history by becoming the first Indian woman to clinch a Paralympic medal in 2016. It inspired Vinod to overcome his disadvantages and pursue discus throw.
"That silver medal made me believe that even I can win laurels for the country," the 41-year-old Vinod told this daily from Tokyo. "Archery coach Sanjay Suhag encouraged me and introduced me to athletics coach Amarjeet Singh. I started training and won bronze in next year's national championships held in Jaipur. I repeated the feat in 2018, following which coach Satyanarayana took me to Paris in 2019 wherein the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) classified me into T/F52 category for two years," added Vinod.
He then competed in the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai and finished fourth to book a Tokyo Paralympics ticket.
IPC classifies an athlete's disability only for two years. The postponement of Tokyo Paralympics by a year meant a few athletes including Vinod had to be classified again by the IPC. Only on Sunday, it was confirmed that Vinod can compete in T/F52 category and the discus thrower is now quite confident of his chances at the Paralympics starting on Tuesday.
The journey, however, has not been that simple. Vinod got married in 2012 and he was blessed with two daughters subsequently. The expenditure grew manifold but his earnings did not increase proportionately, forcing him to take loans. For the Paris trip alone, he had to take a loan of Rs 3.5 lakh from his sister, which he hasn't paid yet.
"It's not easy as I am in debt but the sacrifices will pay dividends if I win a medal," hoped the para athlete.
In October 2020, the PCI along with the Sports Authority of India arranged a training camp for him at the SAI centre in Bengaluru. He was training at the venue till his departure for Tokyo on August 18. The training meant that his wife has had to run the grocery shop and also manage the day-to-day affairs at home. Things got complicated again when Vinod returned Covid-19 positive twice and had to be hospitalised on both occasions.
The world record in his event is 23.80m while the Paralympic record is 21m. Vinod's personal best is 22m and he threw 21m at the National Para Athletics Championships held in Bengaluru in March this year despite being infected by Covid twice. "I hope, I give my best on August 29, the day of the competition. If I medal, this will only be the start of a journey," signed off Vinod.