Kolkata: Odisha’s Suchitra Parida’s life turned upside down in April 2016 when she fell to the ground while climbing a mango tree behind her house in Puri and injured her spinal cord, which left both her legs completely paralysed.Ten years down the line, she has come a long way and is hoping to make it to the Para Asian Games later this year in the F56 javelin throw event, which is for both F55 and F56 athletes.Athletes in the F55/F56 classes compete from a seated position. They have full use of their arms, but while F55 athletes like Parida have no leg function, athletes in the F56 class may have limited or non-functional leg movement along with better trunk control.And on Saturday, she bagged her third consecutive national para athletics gold medal with a throw of 17.80m at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. Garima Joshi of Uttarakhand came second with a best throw of 16.58m while UP’s Fatima Khatoon was third with an effort of 16.33m.Despite the gold, Parida’s effort was short of her national record of 18.79m that she achieved during the national meet in Chennai last year. But she is hopeful of making it big in the coming months.“I have been continuously competing for a while, so I will now take a break and just focus on the trials for the Asian Para Games which is likely to be held in June-July,” Parida told TOI. “To do well there, the first thing I will have to do is reduce my weight by 10kgs.”It’s challenging but she can take heart from her performance at World Para Athletics held in New Delhi last year where she came sixth with a throw of 18.29m despite being unwell. “She was suffering from Urinary Tract Infection before the tournament and as a result couldn’t put up a better show,” said her coach Malaya Ranjan Pati, who has been training her since 2022. “But I am confident she can throw 20m and that will be enough to make it to the Para Asiad.”Asked what makes him confident about his ward, the former hammer thrower said, “She is focussed, dedicated and wants to achieve something in life. That sets her apart from the rest.”“But it is not at all easy, because at times she suffers bouts of pain along her spine and is unable to practise,” added Pati, who trains Parida for four hours a day, six days a week at Kalinga Stadium.If she eventually makes it to the Para Asian Games, it will indeed be an incredible feat, considering she took up the sport seriously only in 2022. Before that, she played wheelchair basketball, but when COVID-19 struck, she gave it up before choosing javelin throw as her life’s restart button.
