5) Rampal Chahar
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At a tender age of 4 years, Rampal Chahar got his arm caught in an agricultural chopper which resulted in the partial (below elbow) amputation of his right arm. But he chose not to cry over his tragedies and preferred to move ahead with a pinch of salt to become a Paralympian.
“In the beginning I was unsure; I lacked proper guidance and even had financial problems. I pursued higher education as I was unable to see a career in sports. Nothing was open to us, not even our entry to IPC, there were no clear classifications and I had no idea under which category of IPC classification system I was eligible to perform.”
But his life changed after he met fellow para-athlete Amit Saroha, who introduced Rampal to the world of Para-Sports. Rampal is funded by the government of Haryana and supported by the GoSports Foundation.
“In 2013, I was introduced to Amit Saroha Sir and then I saw scope of becoming a para-athlete. I had to quit my job to go ahead with my high-jump full time training. In 2015, I broke a National Record in Ghaziabad. Amit Kumar Sir has been the guidance I always lacked. He has been supporting me in all senses even morally. When I have a mentor like him, I have nothing to worry about now.”
Rampal recently won the gold medal at the IPC Grand Prix in Tunisia, with a jump of 1.85m, which also made him qualify for Rio Paralympics 2016 with the ‘A’ qualification mark.
“I am training really hard to win a medal for India. I have been ranked No.4 in the World after the trials. I hope I can win a medal for my nation.”
He might have a missing limb, yet he uses everything else he has to become the best at what he does. His message for our readers, “Never look back once you have set your goals and try your level best in everything you do.”
