Panaji: Lloyd Fernandes and Patrick D’Souza have seen better days in table tennis.
During their time in higher school, they played in the State Championship with Lloyd to be part of the tournament winning squad in Dhempe HSS, Miramar.
Now, they try their hands in sports again, but it’s not so easy.
When Patrick tried to return his opponent serving, it was just whizzes by.
Lloyd is found to want too.
His mind knows exactly what to do when Smash comes in a way, but his body won’t react.
That is understandable.
Second, after all, now in a wheelchair, play table tennis.
Patrick has a “normal childhood” until he is 14, but 40-year-old has muscle dystrophy, a disease that causes a progressive weakness and loss of muscle mass.
He was in a wheelchair since 2015.
Lloyd, 34, met a motorcycle accident in the city five years ago and lay in bed for ten months.
Every time he tried to sit, his blood pressure just dropped, and he fainted.
“Table tennis gives a sense of joy,” Lloyd said, took a break from the training at Taleigao’s residence.
“It makes me feel relaxed.
continuous physiotherapy (to strengthen muscles) boring.
This sport provides for a break.
” Lloyd doesn’t play table tennis just for fun or to revive his teenage memories.
He was serious about winning Goa’s first medal in the national championship table tennis.
So serious that he had hired a personal trainer and watched Youtube videos for hours at the end.
More importantly, thanks to the stadium inaccessible, set the table tennis table itself at home.
Tasks in big hands.
Only one goan-gopal rose – which was ever made for pre-quarter-finals or last 16 stages in the country.
“A medal can work wonders for brotherhood,” Avelino de Sa said, president of the association of defects from Goa (Drag) and Secretary of the Table Tennis Committee of the Goa Table Tennis Association.
“More people will get interested in sports.
They will be interested in following the footsteps of the medal winners.
The government will also pay attention.
” For now, the government just doesn’t care.
“There are many players in Goa but there is no place to train.
The government creates infrastructure for the National Olympics, but none of the stadiums can be accessed (for wheelchair athletes), “Patrick said.
At Campal, where the Indoor Stadium has been updated with an estimated cost of Rs 16 Crore, table tennis facilities on the first floor.
Wheelchair athlete can’t get there because of a non-functional elevator.
“We were allocated a table at the Shyama Prasad Stadium in Bambolim, but every time it was rented for the exhibition, the table was crowded away without notice,” Lloyd said.
Even if the team wants to travel for the national championship, such as the one that comes in Indore in December, they have to pay first of their own pocket and then wait for a replacement.
Wheelchair-bound players such as Lloyd takes two people to lift it-usually his wife and father so that he had to make his own arrangements.
“SAG (Sports Authority of Goa) only provides for the train fare.
Many wheelchair users are unable to travel by train, some stations are not wheelchair friendly.
The government should modify the scheme and allows players to travel through the air, “said Avelino.
the table tennis was launched in Goa two years ago and last championship draw of 30 players, 10 of them in a wheelchair.
Sports have two categories-standing and wheelchair-and several classifications.
“To participate in a sporting event, you need an active or sports wheelchair which can cost anywhere between Rs 80,000 and Rs 1 lakh.
If the government is concerned, they can invest in a wheelchair and allows it to be used by people who are pursuing a dream, “said Vrishank Nagvekar, a veteran who previously had taken part in wheelchair basketball and lawn tennis.
Other players at least people can do is provide access to physically challenged to a training facility, where the government has spent billions of money this treasurer.
“What good is helpful sportspersons after they have won a medal,” said Avelino.
“The players here have their own train.
the government must first invest in athletes and then expecting a medal.
” Indian athletes returned home with 19 medals rich distance from Tokyo Paralympics this year.
Everyone shared their joy.
In Goa, though, was a different story.