Source: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-karnataka/article2730413.ece
Chitradurga, December 20, 2011 This youth with disability won a medal with his chin up Firoz Rozindar Share · print · T+ A hurdle: Finance is a major problem for B. Samiullah, who wants to prepare for the international championship in body lifting scheduled to be held in Australia in 2012. A hurdle: Finance is a major problem for B. Samiullah, who wants to prepare for the international championship in body lifting scheduled to be held in Australia in 2012. B. Samiullah, a 28-year-old physically challenged weightlifter, has become the first person from Karnataka to have won a medal in the National Body Lifting Championship in Karnal district of Haryana. Mr. Samiullah secured bronze medal in the “handicapped” category. “The body lifting competition was held for normal persons and for those with disabilities. About 100 normal persons and five persons with disabilities participated, of them I was the only person representing Karnataka,” he said proudly showing the certificate and trophy he received. Mr. Samiullah said body lifting is a sport where the participants are supposed to lift their body with the support of their arms and touch their chin to the bar. “This method is normally called as chin up. The winner is selected based on the number of times he/she touches the chin to the bar,” he said. Paralysed Mr. Samiullah's body below the waist is completely paralysed due to polio. He literally crawls and uses a tricycle to move around. Interestingly, despite being a person with disabilities, he competed with normal athletes to get selected for the national event as he was the only disabled person among all. “The selection was held in Davangere where 25 participants had come from various districts of the State. During the test, many could not lift their body for more than 30 times, but I made 50 chin ups,” he said. Mr. Samiullah has so far won three gold medals and numerous other medals in weight lifting competitions. With his spirits high, Mr. Samiullah wants to prepare for the international championship scheduled to be held in Australia in 2012. But the major problem before him is finances. Though he runs a juice centre, he says the earning is not enough to meet the expenses for participating in the event. “So far, I have been spending from my pocket, but it is hard to continue in the same way without any financial assistance,” he added. Comments to : [email protected] Copyright © 2011, The Hindu Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ 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
