Disability to superability: How the world's best differently-abled athletes prepped for the 2020 Paralympics

Varun Singh Bhati, 26
High jump
Training location: Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi
Hails from: Jamalpur, Bihar
Challenges that he overcame
“My father, a farmer, moved our family to Greater Noida just to give us good education. At school, I played basketball very well and won many championships. However, I was rejected to play the nationals in spite of being one of the best players because of my disability. That made me choose an individual sport. My PT teacher encouraged me to take up high jump. In a few years, I was competing with able-bodied athletes, and won several state and national medals. I won the bronze at the Rio Olympics 2016 when I was 21. I was injured for the past three years and had no hope of getting through for the event in Tokyo. However, with consistent training, I overcame my injury and am now representing India.”

Blake Leeper, an eight-time paralympic track and field international medallist, world-record holder and three-time American record holder, trains at Dorsey High School in Los Angeles, California. He is hoping to be the first double amputee to compete in the Games for the American team. A panel appointed by track and field’s global governing body recently ruled that Leeper’s blade-like prostheses give him an unfair advantage because of their height. He then started training with new prostheses that were 1.5 inches shorter

Ibrahim al-Hussein, a Syrian refugee who is an amputee swimmer, takes part in a training session at the Olympic Aquatic Centre in Athens, Greece

Athletes of Japan’s Team A compete in a 4x100 m universal relay category during a para-athletics test event for the Paralympics at the National Stadium in Tokyo

Hiroaki Kajisa (left) of Japan and his guide Satoshi Toyoshima compete in the men’s 1500 m-T11 category at the test event in Tokyo

Palak Kohli, 19
badminton
Training location: Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh
Hails from: Jalandhar, Punjab
Challenges that she overcame
“To reach where I am, the major challenge that I had to overcome was how people saw me—as a person with disability. There would always be some sort of sympathy from them and they would use terms like ‘bechari’ to address me. With my achievements in para badminton, people who saw me as ‘different’ are now extremely proud of me. I have become the youngest, the first and the only para badminton athlete to qualify for three categories at the Paralympics. My disability has become my ‘super ability’. It has given me a golden opportunity to represent my country at the prestigious event.”

Sandeep Chaudhary, 25
Javelin throw
Training location: Bahalgarh, Sonepat
Hails from: Jhunjhunu, Rajasthan
Challenges that he overcame
“We come from a family of soldiers. My father was in the CRPF and was paralysed on duty in 2013. I was permanently disabled after a bike accident in 2008. Our villagers would pity us because of this and I was determined to get rid of that ‘negativity’. As a child, I was eager to grow up fast and serve the nation. My way of doing this is by representing my country at the Paralympics and winning medals. I won my first gold medal at the Dubai FAZZA grandprix 2016, and I don’t want to stop at just that.”

Angel Archer, a Mexican paralympic discus throw athlete, practises in Naucalpan de Juarez, Mexico. He won a bronze medal during the 2019 Lima Parapan American Games

Jose de Jesus Castillo, a paralympic powerlifting medallist, exercises at his residence in Guadalajara, Mexico. He has been training at home since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic