The Hindu : Sport News : Not one to be daunted by adversities NEW DELHI, octobre 2, 2010
yK. KEERTHIVASAN SHARE · COMMENT · PRINT · T+ A BRAVE GIRL: British archer Danielle Brown's success story is one to be proud of and she will be looking to put on a good show at New Delhi. PHOTO: V.V. KRISHNANA BRAVE GIRL: British archer Danielle Brown's success story is one to be proud of and she will be looking to put on a good show at New Delhi. RELATED TOPICS Commonwealth Games 2010 sports event Commonwealth Games human interest Finding the volunteers struggling to arrange a ramp for her at the press conference in the Games Village here on Friday, Danielle Brown slowly rose from her wheelchair, used her crutches and took a few steps to reach the dais. The 22-year-old English archer suffers from a condition called reflex sympathetic dystrophy, which results in constant, chronic pain in the feet. It was diagnosed when she was 13 and the pain stopped her from fell-running (running in the hills and mountains) and golf- things which she enjoyed doing. But nothing has deterred her from achieving what she set out to do after taking up archery at the age of 15. Now, after years of struggle, pain and sacrifices, Brown will become the first Paralympic athlete from England to compete in the able-bodied event in a Commonwealth Games. "I am very excited and I am glad that I got this opportunity," Brown said. "It is the first time that archery is being included in the CWG (after a gap of 28 years) and it is not going to be in the next CWG in Glasgow. So this could well be a lifetime opportunity." Boyfriend's backing Brown wouldn't have made it to the selection trials for the Commonwealth Games but for the cajoling by her boyfriend and team-mate Ali Jawad, a paralympic powerlifter. "To be honest with you, I was not going to turn up for the selection trials. I qualified three days before the closing dates because I was in Arizona at that time. I thought to myself 'Do I really want to go back and within five days turn up for the selection trials?' Brown also had doubts whether she could qualify for CWG in the compound section when the competition was going to be very tough. But her boyfriend told her about the importance of the Games and she agreed. "I am really glad that I did it," Brown said. First time at Nymburk Brown's first international competitive event was at the European junior archery championships in Nymburk (Czech Republic) in 2006 where she reached the semifinals of the compound bow open class event. She then took part in the World archery championships in Cheongju (South Korea) in 2007. Competing in the compound bow open class section, Brown won the gold medal. She was also part of the British women's team which won gold in the team event. She capped her fine performance with a gold medal in the Beijing Paralympic Games. In fact, Brown was so focussed on the Games that she deferred her law degree at Leicester University to focus on training. Brown said she isn't under any sort of pressure in the Games and that she is excited to be here and just compete. Brown remarked that her disability has made her mentally strong to deal with challenges day in and day out. "With my disability I had to be mentally strong. For me the worst time of the day is morning when I have to get out of bed and it is just a nightmare being in so much pain. "I just had to put all that to one side so I guess in sports that also helps me. I had to develop strategies to cope with the pain," she said. Ironically, pain has kept pushing Brown to reach greater heights. SECTION OFFICER, ICT CENTRE FOR VISUALLY CHALLENGED, CHMK LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT CALICUT, UNIVERSITY P O, MALAPPURAM DISTRICT, KERALA. Voice your thoughts in the blog to discuss the Rights of persons with disability bill at: http://www.accessindia.org.in/harish/blog.htm To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in
