Para powerlifter Paramjeet’s story – Beating polio, scripting history

Affected by polio in both legs at the young age of two, Punjab’s Paramjeet Kumar, 28, scripted a history by becoming the country’s first para lifter to win a medal at a world meet on Sunday. With a lift of 158kg, he won bronze in the 49kg category of the ongoing World Para Powerlifting Championship in Georgia.

“I am happy that I made it to a podium in the world para powerlifting championship. It's a first step towards my bigger aim of winning a medal at the 2024 Paris Paralympics,” says Paramjeet, who hails from village Haripur Khalsa in Jalandhar. 

The bronze medal in the Tokyo Paralympics was clinched at 156kg. Gold went to 173kg. 

“In the training I was touching 160-165kg, so I was confident of this show. The performance has placed me at world ranking three. To qualify for the 2024 Paris Games, one has to be among the world’s top-eight at the time of the qualification deadline. So, my target is to do well in all the major international events in the next two-three years,” says Paramjeet, who also won bronze in the 2018 Para Asian Games. 

Beginning 

After being confined to crutches, wheelchair and tri-cycle for any movement since his childhood, sports became a distant dream for Paramjeet. But a polio affected Rajinder Singh Rahelu’s bronze medal feat in the 2004 Athens Paralympics gave hope to Paramjeet. 

He started visiting a local gym in his village and when Rahelu joined Punjab Sports Department as a powerlifting coach in 2009, he came under his wings.

In 2015, Rahelu joined Sports Authority of India (SAI) and got his posting at Gandhinagar. Paramjeet too moved his base from Punjab to Gujarat, so that he could train under him. 

“I started the sport under Rahelu sir. He is an inspiration for many disabled, including the polio affected youths like me, who wanted to carve a career in sports,” says Paramjeet. “Though I started powerlifting in 2009, but the performance in my first nationals in 2013 –gold in junior category and bronze in seniors – encouraged me to pursue the sport seriously.”