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00:00the
00:03How do you run on a track that you cannot see
00:08you need someone else whose technique matches yours to run with you
00:16to follow straight lines turn when they curve and stop at the finish
00:22Athletes without vision or impairment use a guide runner
00:25इसेरान रख्षटा ओश्यवे ब्रहूल, फर �Simran Abhay.
00:32But it's not easy for two bodies to run as one.
00:38Something happened and we got disqualified in the 100 metre race at the World Championship.
00:43For an athlete who is a woman and blind and an orphan raised in a remote village,
00:50how do you dream?
00:52How do you believe?
00:55People would say, she's blind.
00:58She's a waste.
01:00Finding a guide runner is especially hard in India.
01:03Because what's in it for them?
01:04We won't get any cash out or any job also.
01:09So then how do Simran and Rakshata compete at the Paris Paralympics?
01:14Dream, train and become champions.
01:24अजेठी इसारेत्वी पज़ करते हैं.
01:32इपलीक और रेमोरे लुड़ी इसे हैं।
01:37नहें लुगरीन नाज़ गुड़ीनियद अस्टन इंदिया,
01:40तो लेख भावार जिएक एफ कर दुग उडॉद एंद्धिन एंद्धिया.
01:44इना लुप्र जायाँ लौट्वाट। वेट लौटू कोई है रौट। अःद इन रौट। वे लुप नुब लौट। अन्डूब इन एडार। लौट। इन लौट्व लौट। युब लौट। नौट। इन ऱौट। नौट। वेपाद॥ पुड्पाधू। लौट�
02:14Educ Chatनened, पुजहे वीजार हैं, तूनीदी थांटheen
02:32लुए लुaking फिरनाज बन हैं,
02:36लुएम इा स्पलओ�서, लुएाएट … युए वी विप शोजाएं, उवाल से तूनौप हैं,
02:44While at Rakshitha's home, her brother helped bridge the language barrier.
02:52My grandmother says, growing up, she didn't have parents.
02:57Neither did Rakshitha.
03:02She says she doesn't want Rakshitha to end up like her.
03:10Rakshitha thrived on their strength.
03:12after being spotted as a talent by her physical education teacher in her village school she moved
03:19to Bangalore where she could access better resources but to compete on the world stage
03:26what she needed the most was a dedicated guide runner I asked I kept asking how do I run as
03:35some blind and cannot see the track she needed to put full faith in her guide and in the tether that
03:44would bind and protect them as they ran full throttle I can't see anything I can't see anything
03:52so I believe in my guide runner more than myself I have a lot of confidence in my tether the guide
03:59and I hold on to the tether and that protects me when I fall Rakshita was lucky she found Rahul he
04:10was a coach of athletes with visual impairment and knew what guide running required he should
04:17be knowing the rules how to run he should know the rules about running on a track and which line they
04:21have to run when they are approaching a curve he has to tell them to turn when a competitor is
04:28crossing in front he has to tell them so they can put in a little more effort
04:32this is Rahul now but 10 years back Rahul had never met an athlete with visual impairment
04:43let alone know what a guide runner is
04:45he was a middle distance runner who had participated at the national games
04:52and was recovering from an injury when a turn of fate brought him face to face with
04:57shavad an athlete with visual impairment in need of a guide runner I ran with shavad I ran as a guide
05:05runner with shavad at the 2014 asian para games in incheon he won a bronze medal that is when I realized
05:12that if the athlete wins I win a medal for the country too I felt proud then I slowly shifted to training
05:19asian para athletes because there weren't many coaches for them this is the asian games medal which
05:26she won a shared international medal for the guide runner was a game-changing revelation Rahul had finally
05:34got what he had dreamt of a new world opened up shavad introduced Rahul to rakshita
05:42they ran together and won gold at the 2018 asian para games Rahul was driven to do more now
05:51he started coaching other girls with visual impairment and able-bodied athletes to be their
05:58guide runners soon he realized the challenges because normal we can instruct able-bodied athletes
06:05about warm-up exercises and other drills even before they go out on the track
06:09but with visually impaired athletes we have to be on the ground with them we have to show them
06:16how to do each exercise make them do it with us like lifting weights or knee exercises they need to
06:23feel the movement and understand the posture for the bench presses etc because if they don't do it
06:29properly they can't get injured
06:43it's early 2024 and simran sharma is training for the paris paralympics
06:48she is partially sighted when she started running simran ran alone
06:58i can see you but my vision weakens considerably after i run so everything is moving right now
07:04blurred only if i try to focus very hard i will be able to make out who you are
07:09in 2021 she became the first indian woman to qualify for the hundred meter race at the tokyo
07:18paralympics but when she ran she couldn't follow her line her vision had deteriorated
07:26the hundred meter track is a straight line but in the middle there is a line that bends three or four
07:31times it happened to me that when i ran i ran to the left like in the tokyo paralympics i didn't know
07:37that i had moved into the lane next to mine as soon as i realized what had happened i came back
07:42to my lane but they said now you need a guide runner
07:49for simran her husband became the reason she not only pursued athletics but also aimed for the top
07:56she met gajendra while training and he became her coach
08:00i had asked simran even before our marriage what do you want from life and she said i want to
08:09run but i had decided that i will take her all the way to the paralympics for simran despite training
08:18in the country's capital it was hard to find a guide runner the government body for developing
08:24para sport in india says it cannot train guide runners and provide them with a long-term career path
08:35after a few false starts where the speed or style didn't perfectly match
08:41simran finally spotted a young athlete abhai
08:45he had won a bronze in the 200 meter sprint at the asian under 18 athletics championship in 2023
08:57abhay seemed to be a good fit for simran he was keen for more exposure but he had never been a guide
09:02runner
09:07born in a family with modest means in a small town in central india
09:11abhai had never even met an athlete with visual impairment
09:18a normal citizen won't know about para athletes or paralympics even i didn't know about blind runners
09:25when i ran for the first time they sent me videos i'm a fast learner and after watching them
09:31i thought i'll easily do it but it's very different in practice
09:34there was a nervousness i thought how would i do it because it's not easy to run with another
09:42person when we run on a curve the hand on the inside moves less and the one on the outside moves
09:51further but when i'm running with her i'm on her outside if i move my hand short then i'll end up
09:57blocking her so i have to change that action my posture changes on a curve when i run my body
10:07arcs and then doesn't straighten it keeps moving in an arced manner the guide runner is an important
10:13support in this situation because his body remains straight at all times so my body also aligns and
10:19and straightens itself while running with him and it all got tested when abhai and simran ran together
10:27at the 2024 world para athletics championships they struck gold simran became the world champion in the 200
10:37meter t12 category but the other race they ran ended in heartbreak
10:50something happened and we got disqualified in the 100 meter race at the world championship
10:56it was our first competition together so we didn't realize he didn't know and i didn't understand either
11:02he thought he had to stop to let me cross the line first so he stopped completely and let me go
11:08ahead which meant we got disqualified so i learned that i don't have to pull her i have to allow her to
11:17cross the finish line first before i do now i'm in top speed and she's in top speed too i have to let
11:24her get ahead of me just before the finish line not allow other athletes to get ahead of her but let her
11:30get ahead of me
11:37abhai and simran have trained together for two months only they also lost time when abhai got
11:43injured while training and needed rest and treatment to recover
11:50there is a lot to learn before they are fully synchronized and time is ticking for the 2024
11:56paris paralympics it's all going good right now i need to stay fit abhai needs to stay fit too
12:05our fitness is very important no one should get injured if either of us get injured it's like one
12:11body getting injured every athlete i met had their own reasons for opting to be a guide runner like
12:21the brace who had taken me to meet rakshita's family
12:29basically i'm also a sports person a middle distance runner i practiced for four years but
12:35then had to stop because of financial constraints
12:41the brace khan got a second lease of life in sports through rakshita's coach rahul who introduced him to
12:47the concept of guide running i couldn't get an individual medal for the country on my own
12:54that's why i trained them training and running with them felt good it felt like i was running my race and
13:01winning medals an athlete and guide runners personal bond runs deep but every guide runner i spoke with
13:11highlighted the need to be treated at par with the athlete by sports bodies for example to be
13:17entitled to government guaranteed sports quotas in jobs in the public sector basically guide runners
13:26have to also think of their families about earning money for them there is no provision for jobs for
13:32guide runners india doesn't have those rules yet they don't give cash prizes to guide runners only to the
13:39the para athletes no money satya narayan is the national coach for para athletes and had brought
13:46rahul into this community but says the government body the paralympic committee of india doesn't have
13:52a plan to give any incentives to guide runners as pci as the government what incentive i asked the
14:00government to treat guide runners as coaches i wrote to them explaining that coaches get a cash payment
14:07from the government that is equivalent to 50 percent of the athletes cash prize and the same should
14:13be given to guide runners then again the athlete should share their prize money with the guide runners
14:18too some percentage of it the need for guide runners starts very early when the potential for athletics
14:30is spotted in a child at their school just as it was for rakshita it is for shanti who is studying
14:37at a government-run school for the visually impaired in the north indian city dehradun a five-hour drive from
14:43from delhi shanti's life journey is not unique i came here when i was in ninth grade in 2021
14:59before that i studied in delhi
15:02i come from madhya pradesh my parents still live there i live here in this hostel
15:06children with partial or full visual impairment especially from working-class families are often
15:15sent away to hostels as parents do not have the resources to support them so shanti has made her
15:21own support network here friends
15:37they also get together to keep track of the sporting calendar using screen reading software on their
15:43phones those with more vision helping those who are completely blind just as low vision students
15:50become guide runners for those with no vision in the school
15:58it becomes a problem when both go for the same competition like when the athlete and the guide
16:03compete in national games they may have practiced together but they would now be running in individual
16:09events too so the guide is running for the vision impaired athlete as well as their own race so they
16:15they would get very exhausted and that poses a challenge ready yes shanti tries to run on her
16:22own because she knows that the uncertainty about getting a guide runner will only increase when she
16:28as soon as i start running fast my vision blurs i have to keep my confidence high and that keeps me
16:42going i'm in the 12th grade right now and get the support of guide runners but after leaving here it will
16:50become very difficult because even if i get a guide runner to practice elsewhere but don't get them for the
16:56the actual competition it will have an impact on my performance
17:03her fragile dreams alive hoping against hope
17:12one step could be to break silos on a rain soak day at the mumbai marathon it's none other than
17:20and cricket legend sachin tindulkar putting his weight behind that visually impaired the visually
17:27impaired participants are the real heroes of this event he's flagging off a marathon where runners
17:35with visual impairment are running and so are able-bodied athletes
17:42the inclusion has been made possible by a small volunteer initiative called guide runners india
17:48founded by bhumika patel she works with a multinational company and began running to stay
17:53fit but it soon became a passion my aim with guide running is that uh we the visually impaired are
18:01able to participate in races at an equal at at par with the general people who are cited
18:09when bhumika patel ran all the six major world marathons she realized that unlike across the world
18:15in india athletes with visual impairment were not part of running communities and one reason was
18:22the lack of guide runners volunteers came forward but then they were it was like more of pity sympathy
18:29and you know oh so i'm feel sorry for you that type of things were coming happening but then we do the
18:35education we do the workshops where we tell them these guys are you know equally they are able to do
18:40everything it's a thriving community now with the champions championing them what an inspiration
18:50ankur dhama is india's first blind athlete to participate at the paralympics in rio de janeiro in 2016.
19:00that experience was very nice it sparked a hope because sport for the visually impaired was in a very
19:08bad state at that time so i hope that would change and we see that change today now male as
19:14well as female athletes are qualifying for the paralympics awareness about para athletes and higher
19:22commitment by the government and corporate sector towards para sports followed from four medals in
19:29in the 2016 paralympics india won 29 in the 2024 paris paralympics congratulations team a shift took
19:39place and the motley group of guide runners here which include former journalists homemakers and budding
19:45sportswomen are a result of that i came across a few visually impaired runners and their guide runners
19:52and that is when uh i started asking my dad you know i want to do something like that we'd also
19:57seen a lot of visually impaired climbers climbing very big peaks and it's really inspiring and i wanted
20:04to be part of that community as well they have only come together for a day of running and not for
20:10sustained training for an elite competition but these running doers stand out in the marathon
20:16small wins making way for large strides the hope that increased visibility may lead to more
20:26awareness and interest in competitive guide running
20:32it's also the first time i see women taking on the role of guide running
20:39he going back and saying to their parents that i am going to run with the visually impaired and so
20:44they will be the ones getting the medal i will also get the medal so the amount of recognition
20:48and all the amount of effort the kind of explaining that they have to do to their own coaches and to
20:53their family members is quite huge simran's journey has been quite different her husband's support has
21:03meant that she's able to single-mindedly focus on training the family still had expectations about her
21:10role as a daughter-in-law and them having children soon after marriage but simran wasn't facing
21:15them alone
21:20gajindra was facing taunts people said we'll see what you achieve you will end up wasting all this time
21:27you have accumulated so many loans just to train your wife why are you committed to this you should
21:33bring up children and live like a normal family why are you going against society why are you allowing
21:38her to run in skimpy clothes so it was even more important to prove herself after the missed
21:46opportunity in the tokyo paralympics this time she had to return with a medal
21:54every morning i get up and saw my medal every time this is my medal gold medal and when she won
22:01this first yeah which is so close to her heart in 2018 at the asian para games what was the reaction
22:06in her village i'll show some videos also is there in my mobile saying rakshita many people
22:12wanted to inspire and do sports in districts so many schools and colleges were there everyone came
22:17and congratulated her really special yeah see and that's you yeah you with garlic yeah yeah
22:26in 2023 they bagged their second gold medal at the asian para games and met prime minister modi
22:33on their return so what did you say to the prime minister i gave first tether i gave him my tether
22:39he asked what it was i explained to him that the tether connects me to my guide i was using this tether
22:46when i won the gold medals in the 2018 asian games and 2022 asian games i'm very happy and giving it to
22:54you he said he was very happy and he said he hoped next time i will win a paralympic medal
23:00so that's what you're going to do now yes but a paralympic medal remained out of their reach in
23:09paris yet hope remains because rakshita has the certainty of a dedicated guide runner and coach
23:19in rahul who is focused on being part of her ambition to reach the top and win
23:24because there are many like her in villages they don't know much about sport she should be
23:34a role model for other people other athletes so they might get motivated to come out and participate
23:41in sports and get medals for the country
23:47for simran and abhay there was mixed success at the paris paralympics
23:51they were well beaten in the 100 meters
23:56but in the 200 meters race they won bronze and made history
24:03simran became the first indian woman with visual impairment to win a paralympic medal
24:11i just thought i have to run today and not take any pressure so i ran and i didn't even know about
24:17the finish till my guide told me we ran my personal best timing 24.7 seconds when i saw that
24:24she'd won a medal i couldn't stop myself i jumped down from the stands with the indian flag
24:32but the 100 meter loss is a sore point and gajendra is concerned that simran and abhay had very little
24:39time to prepare
24:44abhay was with us for only two months and he suffered an injury in that time too we got very
24:50little time to work out you visited us you saw it i feel that we need at least two years of dedicated
24:57training to reach perfection and be confident at the international level
25:01the uncertainty about their guide runner remains abhay has his own budding career so will he be able
25:10to continue and does simran need a different partner to nail the 100 meter race because for her this win
25:18is not enough color gold milana i need to change this color to gold that's my dream dream the memory
25:30or if you can dream it you can do it it's a shared dream and with two minds and two bodies driving it
25:38they're determined to make it a reality