Meet Muralikant Petkar: The Man Who Launched Billion Indian Dreams In Paralympics

Mumbai: As the common massive-ever Indian contingent left america of a for Paris to take part within the upcoming 2024 Paralympic Games starting on August 28, the entire participants may perhaps be dreaming of successful the most important prize in their respective pursuits pursuits discipline — a gold medal.

The contingent is estimated to interrupt the document for India’s best-ever medal haul in Paris 2024 with Paralympic Committee of India President Devendra Jhajharia, himself a two-time gold medallist in javelin throw on the Games, predicting america of a to bag more than 25 medals. India is hoping to elevate on the 19 medals won within the 2020 Games in Tokyo, which covered five gold.

Even as members of the eighty 4-powerful contingent gunning for gold medals on the Games, heaps of them may now now not be counted of the adult that launched these billion dreams — India’s first gold medallist on the Paralympic Games.

Murlikant Rajaram Petkar made heritage within the 1972 Paralympic Games in Heidelberg, Germany when he won a gold medal within the Adult males’s 50m Freestyle Three rivals, twice bettering on the World File on his way to a golden triumph. Inside of the final, he clocked 37.331 seconds and set a new World File after breaking the previous document in his first race in Heidelberg.

A soldier of the craftsman rank within the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME) of the Indian army, Petkar suffered debilitating injuries when the army camp he was staying at in Srinagar came beneath aerial assault at some stage within the 1965 warfare with Pakistan.

Petkar, who was 28 when he won the historic gold medal, took to the swimming pool in occasions when disabled folks did now now not get a lot help from the authorities and society. He was informed to take part in pursuits pursuits to speed up his rehabilitation after struggling the hurt.

He had to surmount many hurdles to take part within the Paralympic Games of 1972, and one of folks who elevated him economic help was former India cricket captain Vijay Merchant, who was at that point heading an NGO for disabled folks and geared up for Petkar’s ticket to Germany.

Petkar’s story is without doubt among the many resilience and trouble of a boy from rural Maharashtra who set pulses racing with his masterful achievements within the swimming pool and won big adulation within the prompt aftermath of his Paralympic Games triumph.

Even if or not, his success as the massive Indian to win an adult gold medal in both the Olympics or Paralympic Games was forgotten by folks for just a couple of years and was now now not even factor to the hardest of basic know-how quiz contests. He did now now not even get an Arjuna Award for his achievements. The actuality that India did now now not win one distinctive gold on the Paralympic Games unless 2004 when Jhakharia won in Athens too did now now not bring up out his story into the limelight.

Even if or not Murlikant Petkar emerged in our judgment of good and incorrect over again in 2012 when the Paralympic Games in London had been televised in India and folks had been mesmerised attempting at HN Girisha successful a silver medal within the Adult males’s High Leap F42. At that point even the PCI administration had no conception about Petkar’s success.

The legendary swimmer in some unspecified time one day bought due wisdom from the authorities when he was awarded the Padma Shri in 2018.

Born on November 1, 1944, at Peth Islampur in Sangli district of Maharashtra, Petkar’s life was progressing on an upward trajectory as he was rising as a boxer of repute within the Offerings and bagged a silver medal within the Worldwide Offerings Sports pursuits Meet at Tokyo, Japan in 1964.

On returning to his home base in Secunderabad, he was given a quickly vacation and a time out to Jammu and Kashmir as a reward for bringing laurels to his Army Unit. The confirm with with to Kashmir was geared up by his Unit Commandant and his stay was scheduled on the army camps in Srinagar.

It was at some stage within the direction of this vacation that Petkar’s life took a drastic flip. Not a frontline soldier, Petkar was caught in a warfare between India and Pakistan and the camp in Srinagar where he was staying came beneath enemy assault.

“I was out for tea within the afternoon when a siren was blown to indicate an aerial assault. I attempted to rush lower back to my room however firing had already began,” recalls Petkar, who obtained varied bullet injuries and was additionally run over by an army auto within the chaos.

Rendered paraplegic for life, the young army soldier did now now not wallow in grief for lengthy and launched a 2d innings that took him to greater heights than he should most in all likelihood have utilized as a boxer. Inside of three years of his hurt, Petkar represented India within the 1968 Paralympic Games in desk tennis and reached the 2d round in men’s singles.

Petkar moved to INHS Asvini, the Navy sanatorium in Mumbai (then Bombay) for rehabilitation and was requested by the physiotherapist there to absorb swimming as factor to the programme.

That modified his life over again as the greater body electrical energy that he had won as a boxer helped him in swimming and Petkar quickly modified into the most important in his class within the area, or later successful the gold medal within the 1972 Paralympic Games.

“I was always positive of my capabilities and gave my best within the massive race itself and set a global document. The correct was obviously not easy. Most most of the time I'm now now not stricken about the lane I swim and set the area document from the massive lane. Even if or not for the final, I wanted the heart lanes (third or 4th) and I bought the 1/3. I idea it was an out of this world omen and gave it my best shot,” says Petkar of his rivals in 1972.

Even as the gold within the 1972 Games was his crowning glory, Petkar won fairly distinctive distinctive medals for India.

In a profession spanning two decades, Petkar won medals on the Stoke Mandeville Worldwide Paraplegic Meet held in England where he always outdid his know-how and won the Usual Championship Cup for five consecutive years (1969-seventy three); the third Commonwealth Paraplegic Games held at Edinburgh, Scotland, where he bagged gold in 50m freestyle swimming, silver in javelin throw and bronze in shot put and the Worldwide FESPIC Games in Hong Kong in 1982 where he created one distinctive world document in 50m swimming.

Even if or not, he would always feel sorry about the verifiable actuality that he should now now not take part in one distinctive Paralympic Games and win more medals for India.

After his retirement, he prepare a swimming pool for disabled folks in Pune and ran it effortlessly for just a couple of years. At the most up-to-date, the seventy nine-12 months-historic Petkar is spending his retired life in Pune where his son Arjun is posted.

And anytime an Indian contingent leaves for para-pursuits pursuits pursuits, Murlikant Petkar is without doubt among the many just a couple of extending his needs to the participants, telling them to win laurels for america of a and tread the direction that he paved decades than in Germany — a direction toward Paralympic gold medal.