Nothing can handicap his spirit

bangalore: twenty-eight year old s.balarama is out on his feet all the time. that he is crippled with polio since the age of 10 has not deterred his spirit of winning an endless list of national awards, be it powerlifting, shotput or cricket. ``it''s only a couple of years since i began participating in paralympics,'''' balaram gushes. his talent in various sports activities has been already sufficiently recognised, that the national paralympic committee of india, under the chief patronship of suresh kalmadi has selected balarama to participate in the xi paralympiad malaysia, at kuala lumpur scheduled to be held from may 1 to 5, 2002.not just in sports, balarama is a champion of his own cause. a watch repairer by profession, balarama and his friends run the ``association of challenged people'''' (acp), where professional training is given in vocational courses to the physically challenged, free of cost. ``the association is in the look out for orders in dtp and screen printing. the funds generated will keep our centre going,'''' he said. with his income solely diverted to his centre, balarama finds it tough to keep his passion alive. ``my participation will ensure a big step towards becoming a sportstar. but i have no funds to meet an approximate expense of rs 68,000 to be able to participate in the paralympiad. i need to pay up before march 25, 2002.''''