Meet Kashish Lakra: The youngest Indian at Tokyo Paralympics

Kashish Lakra is the youngest athlete ever to qualify for the Paralympics from India. Paralympics are the Olympic Games for the differently abled, and the 2021 edition is going on right now at Japan. Kashish competed in the Women’s Club Throw F51 category at Tokyo this year. Club throw is an athletic event where a wooden club is thrown as far as possible. 17 year old Kashish made it to the Finals but lost out there. She is determined to be back in future to do better.  

When did Kashish enter sports?  
Born in Delhi, Kashish Lakra loved sports even as a child and her family encouraged activity among children. She was not only good at multiple sports like badminton, shot put, wrestling, speed ball and skating, but even started winning at competitions. Kashish secured the second position at a state-level skating competition. By the time she was a teenager, Kashish wanted to become a badminton player, but her family could not afford it. So she switched to freestyle wrestling or kusti, and continued training. Soon she competed in wrestling at the State and National levels, and qualified for the prestigious Khelo India Championship. 

How did Kashish’s life change?  
In 2017, while training as usual at the Sushil Kumar Academy in Najafgarh, Kashish slipped and fell on her neck, damaging her spinal cord. She was hospitalised for a week, and was told that she had irreversible vertebral injuries and would remain wheelchair bound. Kashish was depressed till she heard about the Indian Spinal Injuries Centre at Vasant Kunj, Delhi. She was treated here for more than 4 months and had to drop out of school. Her physiotherapist got to know about her passion for sports. He introduced her to coach Satyapal Singh, who told her about the Paralympics and started training her for club throw 

How did Kashis reach the Paralympics? 
Kashish won gold at the State level Club Throw competition, and then a silver and another gold at National level. She went on to bag another gold medal at the Nottwil World Para Athletics Junior Championship, Switzerland, 2019, and secured the fifth rank at the Senior Para Athletics Championship, Dubai, 2019. All this paved the way to the Paralympics.