Archer Rakesh Kumar’s mother Darshana Devi along with his wife Jyoti Devi and son Vansh Verma (boy in white) at their village Natali near Katra. (Express Photo by Kamleshwar Singh)
Darshana Devi still remembers January 21, 2009, the day her son Rakesh Kumar met with a car accident while returning from Jammu to their village Natali near the temple town of Katra. The accident resulted in Kumar being paralysed from waist down and he would spend months in recovery as he made sense of the setback.
On Monday, as the 39-year-old archer and compatriot Sheetal Devi won the bronze medal in the mixed team compound event with a 156-155 win over Eleonora Sarti and Matteo Bonacina of Italy at the Paris Paralympics, Darshana could not hold her emotions back.
“Rakesh had gone to meet his aunt at village Bantalab near Jammu and on his return, the shared cab met with an accident. He suffered spinal cord injuries. From Jammu hospital, he was taken to Amritsar where doctors performed a surgery. It was a tough time for the whole family but this Paralympics medal has given the biggest joy to us,” she told The Indian Express.
Prior to the accident, the then 24-year-old worked as a plumber in the village while assisting father Pritam Chand in his carpentry work. After the mishap, Kumar was bedridden for more than a year before the family got a second-hand wheelchair to assist him in his daily chores. With their village located near Katra railway station, the base town for pilgrims to the Vaishno Devi shrine, the family set up a mobile sim shop for Kumar.
“He never complained about what had happened to him, and wanted to start earning again. We rented a small shop opposite our home on the main road where he sold mobile sim cards and other small stuff to earn some money,” remembers Devi.
It was in 2016 that archery coach Kuldip Vedwan, on his way to nearby Jammu, saw Kumar managing his shop on the highway and approached him to try his hands at archery. With the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board running a sports complex in the temple town, Kumar was one of the early trainees at the sprawling campus. A ninth-place finish at the 2018 Nove Mesto Para Archery tournament in Czech Republic, where he also won the team silver along with Shyam Sundar and Tarif, was followed by his maiden appearance at the Para Asian Games in Jakarta, where he finished ninth in the individual event.
Kumar would pair up with Jyoti to finish sixth in the mixed team event at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021 apart from a sixth place in individual event.
“Initially, he would manage the shop and train for more than six hours a day as he was not sure whether the sport could help him earn a living. But as his interest grew, he would spend his time at the archery range from 7 am to 7pm. His brother Deep Kumar, who operates a taxi, also helped him with money. When he would travel from the village to the sports complex on a scooter that he modified to travel with his kit, some people would laugh at him but his medals are the biggest answer,” says Devi.
Last year, Kumar paired up with Sheetal Devi to win the mixed team gold at the Hangzhou Asian Games apart from winning a silver each in the men’s individual and team events.
Last year, Kumar was appointed assistant coach by the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board.
“Rakesh bhaiyya’s will power is his biggest strength. While Kuldeep sir worked on his basics first, he always understood the importance of being physically fit. Before starting training at 7am, he would run the wheelchair on the road for 2-3 km apart from lifting weights and stretching with thyro bands for strengthening his shoulder muscles,” says Amit Thakur, a Khelo India silver medallist archer and trainee at the complex.
Kumar is building a new house near their old one in the village. “His father died two years ago. He would have been the happiest to see him winning medals for India,” shared the proud mother.
