Para-swimmer Suyash Jadhav becomes face of poll awareness

PUNE: After making waves in the pools of Rio

Rio de Janeiro

and Jakarta, paralympian Suyash Jadhav is ready for a new role in the poll arena back home.


The administration has appointed the only Indian para-swimmer to have achieved the “A” qualifying mark in the 2016 Paralympics in Rio as the district’s icon for the voters with disabilities as well as the general electorate ahead of the

Lok Sabha

polls.

With both arms amputated just short of his elbows, the swimmer had also won a gold (S7 50m

butterfly stroke

) in the

Asian Para Games

in Jakarta last year. “The aim of making Jadhav the district’s icon is to encourage and sensitize all voters, including those with physical disabilities. We will ensure that the voters with physical disabilities have ground-floor polling booths, with facilities such as ramps and toilets,” Pune district collector Naval Kishore Ram said.

Currently training for the World Para Series in Singapore in May, Jadhav, a voter from Solapur, said he would help the administration in the awareness campaigns. “I had delivered a talk on the electors day on January 25 and would have more if they require me to reach out to voters,” he said.

Born in Solapur, Jadhav started swimming at a young age following in on the footsteps of his father, a national level swimmer. Tragedy struck when he was a Class VI student. On a regular day, his upper limbs contacted some unprotected wires at a construction site.

Both his arms had to be amputated and he spent six months in hospital following the incident. But Jadhav did not give up his passion for swimming.

“I started participating in competitions for people with different abilities, both at the domestic and

international

levels. The results were encouraging, as I went on winning medals. This inspired me to participate in more events,” Jadhav said.

He has won four medals at the Winter Championship and at the German swimming championship, besides clocking the best time in the 2018 Para Asian Games in Jakarta to become the first Indian paraswimmer to win a gold.