Niranjan Mukundan is born with an incomplete formation of the spinal cord. This has not stopped his passion for swimming. He has gone under the knife for more than 19 times and regularly missed school. He was born with spina bifida a condition where the spinal cord is not formed properly.
He started swimming at the age of 7, it stated as aqua therapy and he fell in love with it. His disability did not stop his from becoming the first Indian para-swimmer to bag 50 international medals for his country. He was also crowned the Junior World Champion for a record-breaking performance in 2015. Mukundan also became the youngest recipient of the prestigious National Award from the Indian government. As a child, Mukundan could not walk and had to be operated upon when he was one.
He started to swim professionally in 2003 he started swimming as a part of his therapy. He was happy to be a swimmer than a walker as he felt no gravity on him. His coaches noticed him and realized he can be trained for para sport, He was representing Karnataka state soon after.
There is no awareness about para sport in India, People does not realize what kind of pressure we get in to. They don’t know how big para sports are. In his early years of his career his parents faced fierce criticism from supporting a disabled kid. People advised his parents to put him in special school. though his parents stood by him and supported him immensely.
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