Rising From The Debris: Club Thrower Pranav Soorma Eyes Paralympic Glory

It's not often that a person paralysed by a life-altering accident would describe that tragedy as a "blessing in disguise" or "an opportunity" to carve an identity. But then soon-to-be-Paralympian Pranav Soorma is built different. He was 16 when the roof of his house fell on him in 2011, leaving him a quadriplegic. Restricted to a wheelchair, the Faridabad-based para-athlete couldn't have been faulted if he turned bitter with life but to everyone's surprise, he felt the tragedy gave him a sense of purpose.

"I was always a sports enthusiast but never took sports as a career option but I always wanted to do something worthy in my life and the irony is I got it after I got paralysed. I treat it as a blessing in disguise," Soorma, who is also a banker by profession, told PTI in an interview.

Soorma is the reigning Asian Paralympics champion in men's club throw F51 event with an Asian Games record of 30.01m. Little surprise then that he is being seen as a bright medal prospect for India at the upcoming Paris Paralympics, to be held from August 28 to September 8. "I took up sports as an opportunity to create my own identity," he said.

"After 2016 Rio Paralympics I got to know about para-sports. In 2018, I read a lot about para-sports. I got to know about para swimming but given my medical condition it was not possible, table tennis also I liked but I didn't get a good coach to train me," said the 29-year-old, a commerce graduate from the prestigious Delhi School of Economics.

"Then came Narsi Ram sir (a para-athletics coach) in my life. He introduced me to athletics and finally I took up club throw." He is currently working as an assistant manager in Bank of Baroda, a job which he got after cracking the competitive exam.

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