Page 34 - EW January 2025

Young Achievers

para tournaments as well, and education. A bicycle can empower
started competing nationally. them, especially girls whose schools
She made her international are over 5 km from their residences.
debut in 2022 at the Para Bad- It reduces dropouts dramatically,”
minton International staged says Pragnya.
in Vitoria (Spain), where she A natural athlete who became
won two golds and one bronze interested in competitive sports from
medal. The following year she early age, Pragnya won her first Na-
bagged three bronze medals at tional triathlon — an endurance mul-
the Asia Para Games in Hang- tisport race comprising swimming,
zhou (China). cycling, and running over varying
This shuttler’s ambition is distances — championship in 2014.
to bring a gold medal back to That very year, she represented India
India. “I am training to play in- in the South Asian Championship at
tensively in national and inter- Pokhara (Nepal) winning a silver.
national tournaments to raise After completing her Chartered
my game to global standards. Accountancy (CA) degree pro-
MANISHA RAMADASS Currently, my focus is on the Asian gramme in 2017, Pragnya invested a
full year in highly competitive triath-
Para Badminton Championships
scheduled for June in Thailand, and lon training in Spain and Australia.
trainee at the nationally Asian Para Games in October 2026 The results showed in 2019 when she
renowned Prakash Padu- in Nagoya (Japan). But my ultimate was crowned South Asia Champion
A kone Badminton Academy dream is to participate and win gold and earned the distinction of being
(PPBA), Bengaluru, Manisha Rama- at the 2028 Los Angeles Paralym- the first triathlete to represent India
dass is the first Indian woman para- pics,” says Manisha, whose never- at the Triathlon World Cup in Ma-
athlete to have won an international say-die spirit is certain to inspire drid (Spain) the same year.
paralympics badminton medal. India’s huge number of children with Post-Covid, Pragnya defended
In the 25-minute final of the disabilities, whose population is esti- her South Asia Championship title
SU5 category — a classification for mated at 9.6 million, to play and win. in 2022. But while mastering these
players with upper limbs disability Paromita Sengupta (Bengaluru) three endurance sports, she also suf-
— the 19-year-old upset Denmark’s fered severe injuries which deprived
Cathrine Rosengren 21-12, 21-8 to her of the opportunity of qualify-
win the bronze medal at the Para- PRAGNYA MOHAN ing for bigger tournaments like the
lympics staged in Paris between Au- Olympics.
gust 28-September 8 last year. To In her new avatar as TEDx speak-
date, Manisha has won 45 medals — ith high hopes of winning er and girls education champion,
16 gold, 6 silver and 23 bronze. an Olympic medal in Los Pragnya addressed delegates at the
Manisha was born with an WAngeles four years from recent COP29, the United Nations
impaired right arm “the result of a now, Ahmedabad-based South Asian Climate Change Conference staged
clinical mistake by doctors” during and national triathlon champion in Baku (Azerbaijan, November 11-
her birth. Although she underwent Pragnya Mohan (30) has also set her 22) where she called for individual
three surgeries by age 12, the neural heart and mind on the success of her and collective efforts to fight climate
damage was irreparable. To over- social project “Ek beti, Ek cycle” (one change.
come her disability, Manisha, the daughter, one cycle). “I don’t own a car, I use a bicycle,”
eldest child of Chennai-based civil After being selected a Young says this sports evangelist with big-
contractor Ramadass Venkatasamy, Leader under the Lausanne ger issues on her mind.
and homemaker Sunitha, took to (Switzerland)-based International Runa Mukherjee Parikh (Ahmedabad)
sports. She is also a first year online Olympics Committee’s Young
BBA student on a full scholarship of Leaders Programme (YLP)
the city’s Vel Tech Rangarajan Dr. in March 2023, Pragnya
Sagunthala R&D Institute of Sci- launched her Ek beti, Ek cycle
ence & Technology. initiative. Under YLP, each
Introduced to badminton at age leader is provided seed-fund-
ten (2015) when she was enrolled ing of Swiss Francs 10,000
in S2K1, a tiny sports academy in (Rs.9.5 lakh) to plan and run
Chennai, and later at Chennai’s a sustainable sports-based
Indoor Sports Academy, under the social project.
tutelage of Saravanan Sir and Ram- “My project appeals to
kumar Sir, Manisha soon started the public to surrender old
competing and winning tourna- unused bicycles. We refurbish
ments for able bodied athletes at the and donate them to girls from
district, state and national levels. In underprivileged households
2019, she was advised to register for to enable continuation of their

34 EDUCATIONWORLD JANUARY 2025