Wg Cdr Shantanu to represent India at Paralympics Qualifiers

April 21, 2021 11:35

Courtesy, PRO Defence Pune on Twitter

Wing Commander Shantanu, a serving officer of the Indian Air Force, has been selected to represent India at the World Rowing Asia / Oceania Continental Olympic and Paralympic Qualification Regatta which is to be held in May 2021 at Tokyo, Japan, tweets the PRO Defence Pune.

The ministry of defence, in its press release, added that Shantanu picked up the sport in April 2019 and was selected by the Rowing Federation of India for the October 2019 Asian Rowing Training Camp and Championship which was held in South Korea. He finished 5th in Asia then and became the First Indian Paraplegic to represent India at the event.

Wing Commander Shantanu's story is inspirational. 'Having suffered severe damage to his spinal cord in a motorcycle accident in January 2017, Wing Commander Shantanu was on ventilator support for nearly two months. After having stabilized, he was shifted to the Spinal Cord Injury Ward (SCIC ward) at MH Kirkee, Pune. There, he undertook Aqua therapy and Hydro therapy. He picked up swimming as a competitive sport, winning two gold medals at the Maharashtra State Level Swimming Championship organized by Paralympic Swimming Association of Maharashtra in June 2018,' the MoD says.

To know more about his remarkable story, do read Air Commodore Nitin Sathe (retd)'s feature on Rediff.com, 'Celebrating Heroes: Meet the IAF's first para rower'.

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