
With few opportunities to practice as a team due to the work and educational commitments of the players, practice games are intensely contested and very important for coaches to gauge skill levels and evolution.
According to the 2016 census, India has almost 2.7 crore people who live with disability. Of this number, around 55 lakh are movement related including almost 21 lakh women. All the players, administrators and coaches gave personal testimony of how this sport had changed their lives, enabling them to live with independence and dignity. This sentiment is best captured by Rekha, who at 16 was the youngest player to be selected for the Indian team, “Lot of people with disabilities are stuck at home thinking they can’t live a normal life but I think that people like me are even better than normal people as we can do many things that they can’t. Nothing is impossible for us. Girls who want to study, play or do anything should get support from their families to get ahead.”

For 7 hours a day for the duration of the selection trials, the women were put through the paces by the two coaches, who were also the selection committee. Here, in one of many strength exercises, they race in fours with one player pulling three others - a tough task when even moving a single wheelchair is hard work.

Hindu Alayamani (centre) leads the shortlisted candidates in stretches, something that all top flight athletes regard with great seriousness.

Nisha Gopalakrishnan from Kerala and A. Kanagalakshmi from Tamil Nadu attempt to pull each other in opposite directions as part of their warm ups.

Procuring high quality sports wheelchairs has been a constant challenge with no manufacturers anywhere in India, putting the players at a great disadvantage compared to other countries’ teams. The two suppliers based in India get their fabrication done in China with parts imported from the UK, most often at great expense and delay.

At 16 and a half, Rekha (she prefers the single name), from Ghaziabad is the youngest player selected in this Indian team and was one of only two players accompanied by their parents. Her father is a master tailor for fashion designers in Delhi. Despite behind disabled from the age of one and having used a wheelchair for the first time just three years earlier, she’s already a rising star and one of the fastest on wheels in the team.

Kartiki Patel (34) from Mumbai is the team India captain and is currently doing an MA in social entrepreneurship. She was left with a severe spinal injury after a car accident in 2008. She says “I used to be a basketball player before the accident but there were no state level teams when I first started and very few women, so I switched to badminton and then came back to basketball when there were more players.”



Rough, calloused and dirt stained hands come with the trade of wheelchair basketball. Often, with no accessible toilets nearby, the women usually use a couple of buckets of water to wash their hands between sessions.



Rekha from Uttar Pradesh and Nisha Gupta (L) from Mumbai make their way to their daily selection sessions from their hostel braving passing trucks and buses. Gupta, one of the better players in the country was forced to miss the selections due to an illness caused by not drinking water for almost two days during her train journey to Chennai. She did not drink water as she was traveling alone and there was no way for her to use the toilets in the sleeper compartment.

Although the Sports Authority of India was not involved with team sports for the disabled they have recently entertained hope that the wheelchair basketball federation of India would be recognised by giving them space and minor funding to host a pre qualifiers camp at an SAI sports centre in Aurangabad.


Rekha, Ghaziabad, 3.0

Suchitra Parida, Orissa, 2.0

Geeta Chouhan, Maharashtra, 2.5

Satyavathi Pandaranki, Andhra Pradesh, 4.0

Minakshi Jadhav, Maharashtra, 1.0

Hindu Alayamani, Tamil Nadu, 4.5

Marilakshmi Lakshmanakumar, Tamil Nadu, 3.0

Manisha Patil, Karnataka, 3.5

Hima Kalyani Bandi, Karnataka, 1.5

Vinolia Violet Lawrence, Tamil Nadu, 3.0

Alphonsa Thomas, Kerala, 4.0
