Anil’s mantra in life has always been “Long flight does not require wings but high spirits”.
Anil Kadian, a Para Athlete from Bahadurgarh, has proved this. Anil has enhanced the pride of the state by winning two gold and one silver medal in the Para Athletics Championship 2021 held in Bengaluru.
At a very young age, Anil was diagnosed with Polio below his chest. He could not move on his own and his condition was very severe. There were four surgeries performed on him, however none of them proved to be successful and his condition remained the same. In such tough times and at such an early age, he had accepted his disability and decided to live his life with a positive mindset to accomplish great things ahead.
Such was will and confidence that he never looked back at his disability as a barrier, instead he decided to prove his worth through his hard work and undying passion for succeeding. He gives a lot of credit to his parents for supporting him throughout his journey, right from the beginning. People around him constantly inspired him to take challenges and stay positive. He is a graduate from NIFT in communication design from New Delhi.
The 2012 London Paralympics were the turning point in his life. He witnessed international Para Athlete, David Weir winning four gold medals in wheelchair racing. This triggered a sense of belief and inspired Anil to try sports as a career option and he decided to focus on considering sports as hi primary profession. Despite getting a job and receiving a joining letter from a design studio, he was firm on his decision to pursue his career in sports.
At first it sought of seemed to be an easy path ahead but Anil realised that he had been struggling to find a proper guidance as no one was keen on helping him in taking up the profession of wheelchair racing. He approached many coaches and a few of them even advised him to forget his dream of making it big in this field.
“The number of challenges one faces in their lives, makes them even more determined to achieve big success.”
Such was the case of Anil, he got tougher and stronger in life and prepared himself mentally to break the barriers and prove the world his worth. He refused to give up on his dream and instead started training for Discus throw sport. He decided to find his answers gradually and through sheer hard work for 2 years he qualified for an international tour in Germany world para-athletics grand prix in 2018. At this event, for the very first time he saw wheelchair racing in person. He was mesmerised with the idea of participating in the races in the future.
Even though he had participated in the Discus throw and Shot put event, his mind was completely on the track events. He went on to win 2 silver medals at that event and thus his international dream had begun. In the coming months he participated and performed par excellence in the National Open Championship. Owing to his good performances he found himself a place in the Asian Para Games team. He participated in the event and again, it was the same old story. He kept his focus on racing events but this time he was out in the semis.
In this event he was lucky enough to befriend a few racing athletes there and after returning home, he managed to buy his own racing wheelchair with the help of a Swiss friend. There was no bound to Anil’s joy and pleasure, he had proved those people wrong, who never guided him and demotivated him.
From that day onwards, he never looked back and kept on showing great performances at various championships. From that day till today he has won 3 national championship medals, 3 half marathon medals and 2 international medals during his training in Switzerland.
Looking forward he aims to score a podium finish at the Paris 2024 Paralympics Games. He also aspires to represent India in Commonwealth games in Birmingham, UK and Asian para games in Hangzhou, China in 2022. If things go as per plan he soon might travel to represent the Indian team in IWAS world games in Portugal in October 2021.
Wheelchair racing is one of the most popular sports in every para-event and yet we have few athletes who do wheelchair racing. Anil’s goal will always remain this to inspire more and more athletes in India to take racing as their main sports and excel in their respective categories. He also dreams to build a company to sponsor athletes right from the grass root level. He never wants to see real talent suffer just because of non-availability of sponsorships and lack of guidance and training.
He wishes to find the right sponsorships so that his dreams get wings, high enough to lift his spirits high and perform better at international levels.
Key achievements:
International:
Participation in Asian Para Games 2018 in Indonesia.
2 Silver medals in Para-Athletics Grand Prix in Germany, 2018.
1st Indian wheelchair runner to participate in Vitality Westminster mile race in London, UK 2019.
Bronze medal in 200m race in Switzerland 2019.
National:
1 Gold and 1 bronze medal in Panchkula Para-athletics National Championship 2018.
3 Gold medal in Indian Para-athletics Championship in Bangalore, Karnataka 2018.
Fastest Indian wheelchair runner to complete 21km (Half marathon) in 1hr.05min.
400m National record in wheelchair racing.
Gold in 400m and 200m and silver in 100m t54 category race in national para- athletics championship Bangalore 2021.
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