First Indian Woman To Qualify For Paralympics 100m Track Event Had To Sell Plot, Take Loan

Simran Sharma Paralympics: The athlete was the first-ever Indian woman to have qualified for the 100 m track and field event at the Tokyo Paralympics. Sharma's husband, an army jawan, supported Sharma's dreams even though her family did not. He sold plots and took loans to support Sharma's training.

Sharma was born with semi-developed ears and had to be kept in the incubator support. She also developed a weaker vision and admitted that she was often bullied for the same in her school and her classmates labelled her as andhi (blind) only because she couldn’t see beyond 7-10 meters. Sharma as well as her family never dreamed of the fact that Sharma could qualify for the Paralympics.

But she qualified for the track event at the Tokyo Games and became the first Indian woman to do so. Sharma credits her partner Naik Gajendra Singh who is an officer in the Indian Army by profession for her achievement.

Sharma said that she never dreamt of coming this far as her parents weren’t financially capable to support her training. Her husband-cum-coach has been a great support and the only reason behind her success.

Hailing from Delhi, the couple tied the knot in November 2017. In an interview with the Times of India, Gajendra mentioned that even though Sharma has poor vision, she is a good observer and focused athlete.

"Her hunger for the win will fetch medals for the country," he said, "the Indian Army has been supportive throughout her journey."

Sharma now hopes to improve before heading for the Tokyo Paralympics, having qualified in the 100-meter race on June 30 with 12 seconds, during the final trials of Paralympics at JNS. She believes her best score to have been 11.87 seconds.

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