Flush with the success at the Athens Games, where they won a gold and a bronze, India’s paralympian community is mooting a plan to widen the base and increase the skills level: tap disabled soldiers. Arjuna awardee paralympian Ramesh Tikaram believes it can work wonders for the movement. ‘‘It’s something we are really interested in. I am in touch with a lot of army bases to try and bring in army wounded,’’ Tikaram told The Indian Express. Two members of the Indian contingent at Athens were Lance Naik Syamala Raju and Naik Nir Bahadur Gurung; retired soldiers, paraplegics with spinal cord injuries. And while they didn’t win medals this time — they made it to the finals of their respective events — both have done so in the past. Gurung was one of the stars at the 2002 FESPIC Games, when he won silver medals in both the discus and javelin, and bronze in the shot put. Raju won a discus bronze at the Busan Asian Paralympic Games in 2002. Both are part of the Paraplegic Rehabilitation Centre in Pune. ‘‘They can do a lot’’, says Tikaram. ‘‘It’s great that they made it to Athens and regardless of their performance there, they can can inspire and motivate many others into entering the field.’’ ‘‘It’s a great idea,’’ says this year’s Dhyan Chand awardee coach and researcher Digambor P Mehendale, “I have spent a lot of time at the Pune rehab with army wounded. We train them, make them exercise and get them involved in sports activities. But to make it more formal would be great. Youngsters between 18 and 25 would be ideal.’’ However, there are stumbling blocks, of which Tikaram is aware. ‘‘We can only deal with paraplegics and amputees and some other specific disabilities. Not all handicaps would be within our purview. Also, a lot of people at the bases are much too old.’’ But there are four years to sort out the problems. Maybe Beijing 2008 will see Tikaram’s plan bear fruit. Maybe Gurung and Raju will be there too; older, wiser, more experienced and with a handful of proteges to fight the battle.
