Date:01/12/2010 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2010/12/01/stories/2010120154280200.htm
Kerala Winning laurels against heavy odds A Correspondent ACHIEVERS: A reception was accorded to Neeraj (standing) and Joby Mathew (in the wheelchair)at the Nedumbassery airport on Tuesday on their arrival from Israel. Nedumbassery: It is their unyielding spirit in tough conditions and the will to continue that keep Joby Mathew and Neeraj George Baby to stay connected with an inestimable inner strength. With the ability to strive for focus and precision in movement, these young men have worked up a real appetite for taking part in competitions. This time, they duo have won medals for the country at the recently held International Open Paralympics Badminton Championship in Israel. While Joby won silver in the singles category (standing upper), Neeraj could bag a bronze in the doubles category (standing lower). Joby thinks this success in the championship against more technically perfect players across the world will inspire more young people in the State to follow his lead. A true sportsman, who has seven international medals from different sporting events under his belt, Joby also looks forward to the government level support to his initiatives. "This is my first international championship though I have been playing the game for the past 15 years and this medal gives me a lot of confidence and inspiration to work towards the development of sports for differently abled persons in the State'', says an elated Joby. He is now all set to represent the country in the arm-wrestling world championship to be held in Ukraine and the Asian championship for wheel-chair fencing to be held in China, this year. Despite being 60 per cent orthopaedically challenged with severely under-developed legs, a condition caused by Proximal Femoral Focal Deficiency (PFFD), Joby had been onto the podiums, both at national and international levels, for the last couple of years and even won gold in the general category during the 2008 World Championship in Spain. For Neeraj, the medal marks his return to the global ranking arena, apart from a qualification to the upcoming badminton world championship to be held in Guatemala next year. "It was really a tough tournament with as many as 22 countries participating in it but I had the full support of my family and my sponsors'', says the 23-year-old, who wants to pursue a career in professional badminton. Known for his swift movements in the court, he was the first player from the State to win an international level badminton championship for the differently abled. Neeraj secured silver in doubles at the 2007 All India Super Six Badminton Tournament for the Physically Challenged and the Sixth National Championship in the same year. He also bagged gold in doubles and silver in singles at the 2008 Asian Paralympics Cup. E RENUKA, SECTION OFFICER, ICT CENTRE FOR VISUALLY CHALLENGED, CHMK LIBRARY, UNIVERSITY OF CALICUT CALICUT, UNIVERSITY P O, MALAPPURAM DISTRICT, KERALA. To unsubscribe send a message to accessindia-requ...@accessindia.org.in 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
