From being in coma to India’s flag-bearer in Paralympics

Bhagyashree, India’s flag-bearer at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, has a target of winning a medal in the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics in shotput and javelin

Hyderabad: In 2006, Bhagyashree Jadhav met with an accident, was in coma and on a ventilator for a long time – an accident that prefers not to recall!

Now, Bhagyashree, India’s flag-bearer at the 2024 Paris Paralympics, has a target of winning a medal in the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics in shotput and javelin.

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The 37-year-old wheel-chair bound Bhagyashree from Maharashtra won two gold medals – in shot put and javelin throw – in the Khelo India Para Games at JN Stadium in Delhi in the F 33-34 category. For the record, she won six gold across three events in the past year-and-a-half.

“This is an iconic venue. I feel like giving my best here. This stadium has witnessed the history of Indian athletics. During the first edition of Khelo India Para Games, I felt a different kind of experience as soon as I stepped here. It is also very convenient for paralympic athletes. Here, we can focus on our performance without worries,” Bhagyashree Informed Sai Media.

Bhagyashree won the shot put with an effort of 7.30 m, having earlier won the javelin with a throw of 13.57 m. The spirited athlete grabbed the critics’ attention, winning two gold medals in the same events in the 2017 World Para Athletics Grand Prix in Delhi.

“My next goal is the Paralympics,” Bhagyashree said. “Although it is almost three years away, I want to participate for the third time and win a medal for the country. In Tokyo 2020, I finished seventh in shot put, and in Paris 2024, I was fifth. But this time, my goal is to bring a medal for the country,” she said.

Coming from Honvadaj in Nanded, where no one knew about para sports, Bhagyashree met with an accident in 2006 and was in coma and on a ventilator for a long time – an accident which prefers not to recall!

“My family is behind my success,” she says. “Due to the accident, I was on a ventilator for a longtime. I was between life and death. I was in a coma with neurological issues, and my legs function properly,” she said.

“After this sudden accident, my family stood completely by me. It is an incident I do not want to remember because it has been painful. But I have moved far beyond that accident. Now, I only want to bring glory to my family, State, and country,” Bhagyashree said, crediting her journalist-brother Prakash Jadhav for her sporting success.

Sharing her journey into para sports, Bhagyashree credits her brother– journalist Prakash. At the 2022 Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, China, she won a silver medal in the shot put F34 category with a throw of 7.54 m.

“In 2019, I won two bronze medals at the World Para Athletics Championships in China. Subsequently, I won a silver medal at the 2022 Asian Para Games. I was part of the Indian team at the Tokyo Paralympics, where I entered the finals and finished seventh. In 2021, I won a bronze medal at the Dubai World Cup. I have myself everywhere, but it feels incomplete without a Paralympic medal,” she signed off.