A show of grit and courage, athletes with disabilities to ride for cause

Tribune News service

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Amritsar, November 24

During the past three years, Aditya Mehta, the first Indian para-cyclist to win double silver medals at Para-Asian Cycling Championship in the MC3 category, has covered more than 52,000 km of which he has travelled 570 km without his prosthetic limb. And in the meantime, he has been helping to motivate others like him to join him and be the change.

Mehta’s brain child, The Infinity Ride, which serves as a fund raiser for the benefit of people with disabilities and help them adopt sports, has been engaging athletes to travel and spread awareness about the cause. As a curtain raiser to the upcoming Infinity Ride and also marking the celebrations of BSF Raising Day, a BSF Gallant’s Ride 2016, was flagged off today from the Wagah Attari joint check-post to New Delhi. The ride will conclude on December 1, at BSF Training Centre, Chawla. VP Singh Badnore, Governor of Punjab, flagged off the ride, which includes riders from the Border Security Force, the Central Reserve Police Force and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force, who have been made disabled in the line of duty.

Aditya Mehta, the founder of the Aditya Mehta Foundation, which spearheads the programme, will also be joining the para-military force athletes, riding the distance of 500km in nine days, without his prosthetic limb. Union Home Minister Raj Nath Singh would receive the expedition in Delhi.

“In a society where disability is still a stigma, we aim to turn them into achievers and heroes of our nation. The second edition of Infinity ride was held between August 5-15 this year, where the participants, including BSF personnel, rode on bicycles for 10 days from Manali to Khardung la in order to raise funds to help athletes. 10 amputees rode along the highest motorable road despite their disabilities. This is what we aim to achieve,” said Aditya Mehta while interacting with media at the Khasa BSF camp.

The 34 para-cyclists were trained in the first National Training Camp held previously this year and the ones that are being trained professionally in Hyderabad. The team will also be counseling the persons with disabilities all through their route and explain them about the Skill Development Centre, which is being established by Border Security Force in collaboration with our foundation at BSF Training Centre, Chawla. “This centre will be the organisation’s first big step towards its vision to make India “the world’s best country in para-sports. It will be a place where any person with a disability can dream to live his life the fullest and with pride,” he informed.

Punjab Governor and Administrator Chandigarh VP Singh Badnor launched a training programme for the youth of border areas under Civic Action Plan. Announcing an amount of Rs 48 lakh to the BSF to impart skilled training to about 480 youths of the border area villages in four batches at four different locations, he added this is to empower Skill Generation Mission launched by the Government of India.

He said that by 2020 about 500 million youth of our country would be imparted training covering each and every village of the country. Prominent amongst other who were present on the occasion included Arun Kumar, Director General BSF, Anil Paliwal, IG BSF and Gulzar Singh Ranike, Minister of Animal Husbandry among others.