“When I was older, everyone in my village will say:” she is blind, she is a waste. “Now, 24 -year -old, is one of the best athletes in the middle paragraph in India.” This makes me very proud, “she says, she says, she says, she says, she says. .

Rakchitha was born in a remote village in southern India and lost her parents at the age of ten. She was brought up by her grandmother, who hears and speaking.

“We are both disabled, so my grandmother understood me,” she says.

When Rakchitha was about 13 years old, a sports teacher at her school took her aside and told her that she had the ability to be a great athlete.

She recalls, “I asked:” How? I am blind, so how do I run on a path that I cannot see? “Remember.

Her teacher explained that contestants who suffer from visual impairment can have a guide that runs on their side. Athletes join a rope – a short belt with a loop on both ends for each of them to stick to it.

For a while, the other students served as an indicative runner for Rakshitha. Then in 2016, when she was fifteen years old, she competed in the national games, where a man named Rahul Balkishna monitored her.

Rahul was an average hostility, he had competed in the same 1500 meters race. He was brilliantly defined by athletics by a coach in the Disabled Committee in India (PCI) a few years ago, while recovering from an injury.

There was a shortage of evidence and coaches, and Rahul decided to take over both roles. The government pays him a salary for the training aspect of his work, but it does not pay the contestants.

However, if he wins a visually weak runner in an international competition, their guide also gets a medal – something that Rahul has not achieved in his career. He says: “I felt proud because I could do it myself and my country.”

He invested his time and money to support Rakshitha, which helped her move to Bangalore in 2018 so that she could reach better training facilities.

Rahul says: When they run, “They are the little things that concern.” “When they approach a curve, the guide must alert athlete or when the competitor exceeds, he must tell the athlete so that they can do more.”

The rules of competition means that they cannot bear their hands – they can only be connected by the rope, and the evidence of evidence is not allowed to pay, withdraw or pay the visually disabled athlete.

With the passage of time, the couple built a strong bond and now “I believe in the leader of the guide more than myself,” says Rakchitha.

They won the gold medals in the Asian Games 2018 and 2023, and they returned a resounding welcoming in the village of Rakchitha. She smiles as she describes how people who are accustomed to crushing them are organizing a procession for her, chanting and sweeping flags.

Rakchitha became the first blind Indian woman to qualify for 1500 meters in the Disabled Olympics and competed with Rahul in Paris in 2024.

They were absent from a medal in France, but other visual weaknesses in India were qualifying for Paris, the runner Simran Sharma, and reached the platform, where she brought to the house a bronze.

Simran is partially seen and when she started running, she ran alone.

But in 2021, when Simran competed in the Tokyo Olympics, she rejoiced from her neighborhood and realized that she would need evidence if she wanted to continue.

But the research has proven a challenge. “No athlete can be. You need someone to match your technique and who is running as soon as you do,” she explained.

Simran finally monitored a young athlete named Abhai Kumar, who was training in the same place she was. The 18 -year -old was among the competitions and Simran’s guidance was an opportunity to get experience in international occasions.

“They sent me videos and after watching them, I thought:” I am a fast learner, this will be easy. “But when I ran for the first time, it turned out to be very difficult.” Every movement must synchronize.

Simran and Abhay had no time to train together long before the first international competition – the World Athletics Championships in Japan 2024 – just a few weeks later.

Their first race, 100 meters, ended in a disaster.

“None of us knew the rules correctly,” said Simran. Abhai “I think he had to stop to allow me to cross the line first, so he stopped completely.” They were excluded because he should have continued to go and cross the line directly.

But by the time they reached the 200 -meter race, they knew what they were doing and hit gold. Simran has become the world champion in the T12 category.

They ride at this high level, they went to the disabled in Paris. They ranked fourth in the 100 -meter race, but they won the bronze in the 200 -meter race and Simran became the first Indian woman with a visual weakness to win a medal.

But Simran is concerned about the time when Abhai will remain as evidence for her. He also has his career to think.

Although contestants in the guide get a medal when the couple wins, the PCI committee (PCI) says it cannot support evidence with salaries or cash prizes or provide a long -term career path.

“All we can do is support the short -term needs such as food, accommodation, transportation and training facilities,” says PCI coach in PCI.

Rakshitha and Simran now have care deals that help finance their training. They pay their evidence themselves and give them a share of any prize money they win. But Rahul and Abhay want more support from the state and wants to allow them to apply for jobs in the public sector designated for athletes and women – such as the athletes who work with them.

Despite the uncertainty about its future with ABHAY, Simran is already looking forward to the next handicapped games in Los Angeles. “I will not rest until I change the color of this medal,” she says, hoping to win gold next time.

Rakchitha hope for a medal next time as well, with Rahul alongside her. “You must win a medal,” he says. “There are many like it in the villages. They do not know sports and possibilities. Rakchitha will be a role model.”

The BBC Indian SPORTSWONAN of the Year (ISWOTY) was returned with its fifth edition to celebrate and honor the wonderful achievements of mathematics in India. Learn about the candidates The winner will be announced on February 17.