From IIT to winning gold for India at the Paralympics, Brut spoke to Nitesh Kumar, India's badminton star of the 2024 Paralympics.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00The centre part is taken from the Eiffel Tower.
00:03The back side is also more prettier.
00:10So, Mitesh, tell us as to what motivated you to take badminton as a career
00:14and was badminton always your favourite sport?
00:18I used to play football during my school days.
00:20I used to play almost all of the sports.
00:22Basketball, volleyball, cricket, everything.
00:24But football was my first love all the time
00:29and surprisingly badminton was not there in any of that list.
00:32Yeah, I was 15 years old back then.
00:35We were just a normal weekend.
00:36We went around our city to play a football friendly match
00:41and we were coming back and then I had an accident by train.
00:44It was so severe that the doctors, they could not save my leg
00:48and it had to be amputated.
00:50So, after the accident, did you think that you would play any sport?
00:54At that time, sports was nowhere in my mind.
00:57The first motive for me to be independent on my legs again
01:02and then it was very disheartening to me.
01:04I was blank out in my mind that how will the life be in the future
01:09and what will I do?
01:10How will I do?
01:11And then I had to go to Artificial Limbs Centre, Pune for my further treatment
01:16and there I saw lots of army professionals, navy professionals
01:22and then air force professionals who lost their limbs in wars, in accidents.
01:28They used to run with prosthetics.
01:30They used to run with crutches.
01:32They used to have fun in their own ways
01:34and then it motivated me a lot that being so old in age,
01:39they can push their limits and they can get back to their feet independently.
01:43Then I was just a 15 year old kid who had the whole of life in front of me.
01:47So, that motivated me the most.
01:49At what age did you started playing badminton?
01:53I started playing badminton during the first year of my B.Tech in 2014.
01:58I started playing it for recreation purpose,
02:01for fun just to have some mind of studies
02:04and that hectic schedule of an IIT education system.
02:08I was always into sports.
02:09During my childhood, I used to play football
02:12and I always used to fantasize about sports.
02:14So, when I started playing badminton,
02:17the same inner kid of me who loves sports started coming back.
02:23I didn't even realize when it became a passion
02:25and I started playing badminton very sincerely
02:28and then soon I wanted to play for my college team
02:31before I got to know about para sports.
02:33What all challenges came forward you while playing badminton,
02:36while learning, while practicing and while training?
02:39When I started playing it,
02:40I didn't think of it as a profession or to compete in the sport.
02:43So, I was not training according to the game.
02:47I was just getting to know the regulations
02:49and then just playing according to them.
02:51No technique as such, no footwork.
02:54Just naturally trying to reach out for the shuttle
02:57however, howsoever I can.
02:58So, it was not like I trained in a particular way
03:01to have my footwork to reach out the corners
03:04and to reach out the shuttle.
03:04It was just like this.
03:06I would see shuttle falling in front of me
03:07and I just wanted to reach out to it.
03:10And then it just came naturally.
03:12And then after some time when I wanted to play for the college team
03:17and then I used to play with regulations sincerely
03:21then surprisingly that natural footwork
03:24was the perfect footwork that worked for me.
03:28So, even now I believe like my footwork in the court
03:32is one of my strong points of the game.
03:35Started using prosthetics in 2010.
03:39And then long before I started playing badminton
03:43I got used to it so naturally
03:45that even while walking
03:46if you somehow stumbled while walking
03:49and if I was about to fall
03:51my right leg automatically took one step extra
03:54and then got stable in my body.
03:57The same thing happened when I started playing
03:59that my right leg automatically
04:02to reach out for the shuttle
04:03I kind of started reaching out with my right leg more
04:06and started depending on that leg more.
04:10And during COVID when I got my sports prosthetic
04:15which has a huge difference
04:17between the walking prosthetic and sports prosthetic
04:19because it gives me more balance and more pace
04:22and more stability and it's less heavier
04:25so it gave me more edge than my previous prosthetic
04:30and previous game pattern and everything.
04:32So, COVID was the main time when everything was shut
04:35and I had time to get used to my new prosthetic.
04:39So, that was the turning point in my career
04:42that boosted my game a lot.
04:44What was the feeling like when the shuttle fell
04:47and it was announced that you have won the gold for India
04:51and while you were walking towards the podium
04:54what all feelings did you have inside you?
04:56When the shuttle landed out
04:58it was just a joyful moment for me
05:01and everything what I did during the celebration
05:05and after winning it all came naturally by emotions.
05:11None of it was planned
05:12and then I kind of had a flashback of all my journey
05:17in a very quick glimpse
05:19and it felt nothing less than heaven
05:24and I can't find words to describe how it felt.
05:28Badminton requires a lot of strength.
05:29What is your diet like?
05:31Most of it is natural home food
05:35and then just trying to avoid sugary and packed food
05:40and then try to eat fresh food most of the time
05:42avoiding juice and then having raw fruits, dry fruits, nuts
05:48and then taking care of the protein intake
05:51and then of course being from Haryana
05:54the diet has to have ghee and lassi, milk, everything.
05:58So, I was not too harsh on myself for diet-wise.
06:01One advice to the young para-athletes that you would want to give?
06:05I'll leave athletes for everyone, every young person in general
06:09that pick up any sport
06:11be it play it for recreation or play it professionally
06:15get involved in a sport
06:16because nowadays the generation is more into indoor things
06:19and less into physical activities.
06:21What sports give you works for the whole of your life
06:25irrespective of your profession
06:27because it gives you self-confidence, self-belief
06:29which is helpful for all the professionals
06:32and especially for the people with disability
06:34because you need self-confidence to go out there and face the world
06:38because irrespective of how well you do in any profession
06:43people do have that stigma in India
06:46still have that stigma in India
06:48that they look up to you with sympathy and everything
06:52but once they get to know about you, about your journey
06:55they feel immensely proud about you as well.
06:58So to face the world and to go out there and give your best
07:03you have to have a self-confidence
07:04and I'll suggest as much as disabled people
07:08to go out there and play any sport.
07:10One life mantra that you swear by?
07:12Never give up.