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Life is uncertain sometimes. In the case of young Kashish Lakra, life has been unfair. She was a former wrestler until a gruesome accident forced her to be wheelchair-bound.
One fine day, Kashish was busy training at the Delhi Government-run sports complex in Najafgarh. She was very keen on pursuing a career in wrestling. During her practice session, the teen slipped and landed on her neck, which damaged her C4-C5 vertebrae.
Kashish Lakra barely remembers anything that happened on the evening of November 29 nearly four years ago. The only thing Kashish recalls is waking up in hospital, feeling like her neck had been ripped apart from her body. She was operated on for the same and has been in a wheelchair since.
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What's more heart-breaking was that just three days prior to the ghastly incident, Kashish learned about her selection in the wrestling team for the inaugural edition of the ‘Khelo India’ campaign.
Her family stood beside her throughout her painful and traumatizing rehabilitation sessions.
Recounting her ordeal, Kashish Lakra told the media:
“Life didn’t make any sense to me. I just felt like my neck had been cut off from my body. I felt dead. I felt like I had gone somewhere else, and nothing that I could hear made any sense to me then.
"Till today, I don’t recollect what exactly happened to me. I only knew I was training on the mat [at the Delhi Government-run sports complex in Najafgarh], and the next thing is I am on a hospital bed."
Following her recovery, the robust Kashish knew she wanted to pursue sports. She and her coach, Dronacharya Awardee Dr Satyapal Singh, decided that the youngster would be competing in the club throw discipline in the F51 category.
The Indian Paralympics Committee announced a list of selected Paralympians for the Tokyo Games, which comprised the 18-year-old Kashish Lakra's name. She thus became the youngest Indian to qualify for the Paralympics in the F51 category.
"I am in a position to realize my goals of representing India at the Paralympic Games," Kashish Lakra said on her qualification. “Today, I can dream of a Paralympic Games and, of course, a world record in the Club Throw in my F51 category."
Doctors had told that Kashish Lakra won’t survive more than 48 hours, and even if she did, she would be bedridden for life. But Kashish showed immense spirit and courage to defy that and get a chance to represent India in club throw. She sure had a roller coaster ride but the whole nation will be cheering for her when she enters the stadium to compete with the best in the world.
