Surviving landmine blasts to reaching podium, Pg1.

Key Highlights:

• Soman Rana, a former sepoy who lost his leg in a 2006 landmine blast, won a silver medal in the men’s shot put F57 at the World Para Athletics Championships.
• Pardeep Kumar, who lost his leg in 2019, secured a bronze medal, becoming the first Army para athlete to win a medal at the World Championships.
• Soman's silver is his first global medal, following a fourth-place finish at the 2024 Paris Paralympics and a silver at the 2022 Asian Para Games.
• Pardeep, a debutant at the championships, competes in the F64 category for athletes with lower limb impairment.

Detailed Insights:

• Soman Rana started para athletics in 2017 after visiting the Artificial Limb Centre (ALC) and was a middleweight boxer for five years before his injury.
• Coach Rakesh Rawat capitalized on Soman's strong upper body from boxing to train him in shot put, focusing on flexibility and throwing hand strength.
• Pardeep Kumar was introduced to para sports after receiving a prosthetic leg at the ALC following his injury during patrolling duty in Srinagar.
• Lt Col Nitten Mehta highlighted that Pardeep had been training for six years and finally got the opportunity to compete at the top level in his category.
• Soman Rana aims to win gold at the next Asian Para Games, while Pardeep Kumar seeks to compete against the best para-athletes globally.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Para Athletics: Competitive sports for athletes with disabilities, aiming to provide equal opportunities in sports.
• Prosthetic Limb: An artificial device that replaces a missing limb, used to restore function and mobility.
• F57 & F64 Category: Classification in para sports based on the type and extent of physical impairment of the athletes.