By Our Special Correspondent
The players who won medals internationally were denied tickets. Tickets for IPL cricket matches are sold out in a matter of hours, but players who win medals internationally in sports other than cricket will have to train themselves and travel to various tournaments.
The Al Watani Para Championship 2022 was recently held in Amman, Jordan. Eighteen para-athletes from India participated in the Table Tennis Championships and won 12 medals. Para athletes from Gujarat won seven medals. Even sadder, Gujarat, which has the largest cricket stadium in the world, does not provide the same level of support to these players despite winning medals around the world.
Sonal Patel and Bhavina Patel won gold medals in singles in Class 3 and Class 4 respectively. Bhavina and Sonal also won gold in doubles. Sonal Patel-Ramesh Chowdhury and Bhavina Patel-Jashwant Chowdhury won silver medals in mixed doubles.
Ramesh Chowdhury and Jashwant Chowdhury won silver medals in doubles and the athletes won a silver medal in the prospective Kukadia doubles category along with a Turkish player.
In an interview, Ramesh Chaudhary and Sonal Patel said that the situation had not improved even after Bhavina Patel's victory in the Paralympics, adding that Sarita Gaikwad, who represented the country at the Asian Games, had been given a government job but Sonal, who represented the country, had been given a government job. He has won medals at the Olympics and many such international tournaments, and has not yet received a job or assistance despite numerous guarantees.
When 6 women athletes from Gujarat went to the Olympics for the first time this year, the Chief Minister handed over a prize money of Rs 10 lakh and we did not receive any help except that. "Since we are alumni of the blind community, we are able to practice there because of their cooperation," the couple said. Sonal Patel gets a lot of help from the Olympic Gold Quest organization for coaching and expenses, while other athletes spend a lot on their training.
Bhavina Patel said she was very happy to win 2 gold medals and 1 silver at the Al Watani Para TT Championship. I am happy to be doing well not only in singles but also in doubles events. It helped me with my training and gave me a good idea of where I needed to work. It was only after winning silver at the Paralympics that Bhavina began to receive government assistance.
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