Zenji Nio, the first Indian origin selected to serve as official chaplain for an Olympic and Paralympic games, had no words to describe his excitement of being among para-athletes who he referred to as 'true heroes'.
Furthermore being an Indian origin, who was actually born in Canada, Zenji was overwhelmed with the love he got for Indian culture from world athletes. However, seeing the condition of Paralympic athletes in India, he decided to skip the opening ceremony of Rio Paralympics which took place on Wednesday and came to India to create awareness on the regard. "Indian culture is the biggest hit in the Olympic village. India play such an important role in Olympics, but in India itself the Paralympic situation is in such disarray. How could I not address itIJ" asked Nio. "India means so much to so many athletes. They respect India — they look to India to be a spiritual and a moral guide. The world looks to India as the home of higher moral standards," he added.
As the world gears up for the Paralympic Games in which 19 Indians will be competing, not a single Indian network has picked up the broadcast rights for this global event. Civilian Welfare Foundation and Para Sports Foundation, a city-based NGO decided to bring this situation to light by holding a conference in Kolkata on Tuesday and here on Wednesday.
When asked whether it is too late for changes, Nio disagreed and said the impact of having such an event during the opening ceremony will have a greater impact. "I think by doing it on the day of the opening ceremony, people should be watching the opening ceremony in India but they are not going to be watching the opening ceremony, instead we are giving them the opening ceremony. It is meaningful and symbolic on the day of opening ceremony," Zenji, who is here to support the initiative, said. "The opening ceremony we are giving to them is trying to energise them. So when we hold a conference during Tokyo 2020, the conversation will be totally different," he added.
He also called for affirmative action from government's side. "There is a quality called Affirmative action — that is always there in any civil society — where you have to give some special treatment in order to try and bring them equal. I think the government should do that," he explained.
Nio is also not expecting anyone to allot lot of air time on Paralympics but still insisted on dedicating some time for it. "They have to decide how much time they can dedicate — it doesn't have to be all-day thing. If they don't have time for entire game, they should do for the highlighted news of Indian Paralympic athletes. So Indian people can see Indian athletes excelling," he added.
He also said the government has been petitioned several time about it. "The government has been petitioned several times, various networks have been petitioned several times. If enough people read about it, then there is good enough opportunity in next 10 days," he concluded.
Suvarna Raj, a para-athlete, is not just calling for telecasting of paralympics, but believes if awareness is spread about para-athletes, then everyone will get to know about them. "I am not only talking about telecasting, I want media to make the society aware about person with disability, then everyone will know," said the 34-year-old athlete who has tried her hand in disciplines such as javelin, shotput and discus throw, before settling with table tennis some eight years ago.
Since the first time India participated in Paralmypics, Doordarshan has never broadcast the sport, bemoans Suchandra Ganguly, Paralympic Sports Rights Activists and Founding Member, Civilian Welfare Foundation. "Since India started participating in Paralympics in 1964, till now Doordarshan has never broadcast summer Paralympics," she said. "Strategically this year is a critical year in the history of paralympic sports where 19 athletes are participating in 9 events the key important points being the highest amount of women participation (3) and a bunch of budding talent along with the stalwarts," Suchandra added.
Meanwhile, Para Sports Foundation (PSF) general secretary Pradeep Raj said despite repeated requests, they failed to yield any response from the authorities regarding the telecast of the event. "This is huge discrimination on the part of the government for the para athletes. We are also citizens of the same country and when there was no problem in telecasting the Rio Olympics, where is the hurdle nowIJ" he asked.