Attabira: Pramod Bhagat has made the country proud by clinching Gold medal in Tokyo Paralympics, 2020 in badminton men’s singles SL3 event. However, the youth struggled hard in initial days of his life and worked as a mechanic to eke out a living and support his parents.
Bhagat hails from Attabira locality of Bargarh district and was born in 1988. After schooling, he joined ITI course at a college in Hirakud town of Sambalpur district. Owing to poor financial standing of his family, the ambitious youth could not complete his education.
Bhagat’s elder brother had a repairing shop for electrical appliances. In the early part of his life, he assisted his brother in repairing works.
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According to Bhagat’s family source, when the youth was five years old, he developed a defect on his left leg. As destiny would have it, he once watched a badminton match and got fascinated with the game. At the age of 13 years, he aspired to become a badminton player.
Subsequently, in order to cherish his dream, Bhagat started focusing on his footwork and physical fitness for the next couple of years.
Bhagat played his first-ever badminton tournament at the age of 15 years against local players. Thereafter, the youth never looked back. His dreams have come true for his strong willpower alone.
It is pertinent to mention here that Bhagat has so far won over 40 coveted awards, including four gold medals in a number of world championships. He was conferred with the Arjuna Award as well as Odisha government’s Biju Patnaik Sports Award in 2019.
PNN
