Allen Career Institute
It is never easy to adjust to life with a disability. Often people succumb to grief and despair owing to this.
However, the ones who embrace it come out as true winners. A similar story of defeating disability is of Manasi Joshi, a para-badminton player who at present is World No. 2 in SL3 Singles.
Manasi’s story is a great inspiration to everyone who gives up due to failures or lacks the willpower to achieve their goals.
The Start
Born on June 11, 1989, in Ahmedabad; Manasi liked to play badminton right from her childhood. She started playing the game when she was six years old. Her father, Girishchandra Joshi, is also a tennis player and a writer.
She played various tournaments during her school days and won school & state-level competitions. After graduating in Electrical Engineering from K. J. Somaiya College of Engineering, she joined a Pune based company and worked in the software development field.
Manasi was a cheerful and positive person; but her life took an unexpected turn when she met with a severe accident on December 2, 2011.
The Accident That Changed Her Life
Manasi was hit by a truck while she was on her way to work, riding a two-wheeler. The accident was a massive one and her left leg got crushed. Though she was admitted to the hospital on time, her surgery happened at 5:30 in the evening. By then she had lost a lot of blood. The doctors couldn’t prevent the infection from spreading in the legs and they had to finally amputate it.
Despite the major loss & pain, Manasi didn’t give up. Once the wounds healed, she got prosthetic legs and was determined to live life in an optimistic and cheerful way.
The NEW Beginning
After getting back home, she continued working and with the support of her CEO and colleagues, played badminton matches organized at the corporate level in 2012. This made her realize her potentials and she decided to make it big in the field of badminton; the sport she endeared the most.
She followed a strict routine that included going to the gym daily, following the right diet and practicing badminton.
In August 2014, Manasi got the opportunity of representing Maharashtra at the selection trials for Asian Games 2014. Though she didn’t make it through the selection, it proved to be a new beginning for her.
In the same year in December, she got to play her first national-level tournament and went on winning a silver medal.
In March 2015, she was selected for the fifth Spanish Para-Badminton International Championship. She proved her mettle there also and then got to play in the BWF Para-Badminton World Championships which was held at Stoke Mandeville, England, in September 2015. There she won a silver medal in the mixed doubles.
To take her game to an all-new level, she joined the Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad.
In October 2018, she won a bronze medal for the country at the Asian Para Games 2018, held in Jakarta, Indonesia.
She brought laurels to the country by winning a gold medal at the World Para-Badminton Championships 2019 held in Basel, Switzerland.
Manasi now targets to get selected for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics and she is putting in great efforts to fulfill this aim of her.
She is a great inspiration for all of us and we salute her courage, willpower & optimistic attitude. We hope that she continues to excel in the world of badminton and make the country proud.
Tags: Para-Badminton Player | Manasi Joshi | Para-Badminton Champion | Athlete | World Championships
