A resident of Chhattisgarh’s Hirmi village,Manish Pandey can never forget the date of April 2, 2011 as it was the day when India and Sri Lanka competed for the cricket World Cup, with India emerging victorious and it was the day when he lost his leg in an accident. The two events were linked because Manish, who was 19 at the time and in his first year of college, was rushing home to watch the match.

Manish was standing at the train’s door, getting ready to disembark at Tilda station and return home and he was shoved from behind and thrown from the moving train with his right leg getting crushed under the train!

However Manish’s determination remained unaffected despite losing his leg, slipping into depression, having to adjust to a new lifestyle, and being refused formal education due to his disability. He not only accepted his physical disabilities, but he also went on to win gold at the Asian Games as a Paralympic champion.

Manish claims that he first heard the term “Paralympics” on the internet in 2013. He was intrigued by the idea and started looking for more detail on it. Blades, a rare prosthetic leg used by runners, aroused his interest, and he wanted to try running professionally.

There was, however, a lot of financial challenges on the way which he overcame with a help of a prosthetic consultant who specializes in sports. Manish spent months training at Gachibowli Stadium before taking part in his first international tour in Tunisia in June 2014. In the 200-meter dash, he took silver, and in the 100-meter dash, he took bronze. He competed in the 100-meter dash, long jump, and 4100-meter relay at the Asian Paralympic Games in Incheon, South Korea later that year. Manish pursued a one-year sports management program in South Korea in 2015, followed by a two-week sports management seminar in Kagoshima, Japan, motivated by his success.

He returned to India with the determination to complete a bachelor’s degree in athletics and finally Manipal University helped him complete his degree in Physical Education and Sports in 2020, being the first few leg amputee to hold a degree in sports!