Dubai: Sandesha Bappunji Giddegowda, India's only representative at the Fazza International Athletics Championships Dubai 2012, and a self-sponsored entrant at that, won a silver medal in the discus throw category. The event, held at the Police Officers' Club grounds in Dubai from March 9-14 this year, brought together disabled athletes from around the world — most of them sponsored by their respective governments.
"As a child and a young adult, when things got really hard for me, I always told myself not just ‘can do' but ‘can do better', and I still try to stick to that as much as I can," says Giddegowda, who has had dysfunctional legs since he was a baby.
"That I could compete and win in international sports had never crossed my mind when I was growing up, which is a shame really. Even the most unfortunate children should be told that they have options, that there is hope." Born into a family of farmers, Giddegowda hails from the Chikkamagaluru district of Karnataka, historically famous for the coffee plantations dotting its hills.
Tough upbringing
He spent most of his childhood in a government hostel in the same village as his folks — the undulating landscape ruled out the possibility of living with his parents and travelling between home and school.
In fact, right up until 2007, when he was studying for his Bachelor of Commerce degree at Shivamogga (another district in Karnataka), he had no wheelchair and hauled himself along using his hands, often getting painful blisters on hot afternoons. And that was not the worst of it.
Not one to complain about the hurdles he has had to overcome every day of his life, Giddegowda simply says, "People need to wake up and educate themselves about those who are different from them. The main problem for disabled people is probably not their disability as much as the society at large, which fails to treat disadvantaged persons with empathy and even respect."
"Life is okay these days. But about five to ten years ago, it was like belonging to a place where nobody knew" one existed, he recalls. There is lack of information and accessibility, he adds, making it difficult for conveniences to reach those who most need them.
Training centres and disabled-awareness centres are imperative to educate the public about the needs and conditions of the differently-abled, he says. And above all, money needs to be injected into the system so that theories can become practice.
An important concern that most nations need to urgently address is providing basic infrastructure for the disabled, he says adding that ensuring that buildings, public transport and pavements should be wheelchair friendly would constitute just the bare minimum to that end.
Self-made man
"Technique is important in any sport," emphasises Giddegowda. "And since I have no coach, I have picked up most of mine from watching other sportspersons perform. My knowledge of wheelchair racing, for instance, can almost entirely be attributed to YouTube and Google," says Giddegowda.
Back in the day, it was on the advice of his college coach that he participated in a district-level body-building competition and won a bronze medal. That was his first competition and his first award, and since then, there has been no looking back for him. "I still remember from my college days, how I used to be the only disabled athlete in the entire stadium."
It is only too clear that Giddegowda still has that drive and endurance that will take him far.
After finishing his Masters in Business Administration, Giddegowda won a bronze medal for shot putt in the Fazza International Championships of 2010, a silver for shot putt in the Sharjah Championships for the Handicapped last year and he was quite hopeful of winning something in the shot putt event at Fazza this year as well. To his surprise, he won a silver for discus throw instead. "The wind was so strong, I could not manage to keep the putt within range," he recalls of his effort in his preferred event. The discuss throw win only goes on to show his untapped potential given that he had no assistant nor anyone else to guide him or cheer him on.
Paralympic dream
These days Giddegowda lives in Bengaluru, state capital of Karnataka, where he shares a flat with some friends and works as a content analyst for Thompson Reuters. Every day, the London 2012 Paralympic hopeful makes sure he dedicates at least two hours on the grounds practising, and saves money solely to pursue his athletic ambitions. "I don't place any self-imposed restrictions on my freedom. I truly believe I can achieve anything I put my soul into," says the inspiring sportsperson. And that's one thought all of us can hold on to.
