He lost a leg in a landmine blast, but Army man Hokato Hotozhe Sema did not let it clip his wings. And deservedly, he soared into the record books last night, becoming the first athlete from Nagaland to win a Paralympic medal.
With a career-best throw of 14.65 metres, this 40-year-old shot-putter won the bronze for India in the men's F57 category final at the Paralympic Games in Paris.
Hokato Sema, the only athlete from his state in the Indian contingent in Paris, lost his left leg in 2002 while taking part in an anti-terrorist operation in Jammu & Kashmir's Chowkibal in 2002. Born in a farmer's family in Dimapur in 1983, Hokato Sema was the second of four children, and was passionate about joining the Special Forces, and joined the Army at 17. But, he had to abandon his dream because of the incident.
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He was encouraged by a senior army officer at the Pune-based Artificial Limb Centre to take up shot put, and he took up the sport in 2016. He started training in the F57 category at the Army Paralympic Node in Pune. The F57 category is for field athletes with movement affected to a low degree in one leg, moderately in both feet or the absence of limbs.
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The decision changed his life for good, as he entered the National Para Athletics Championships in Jaipur the same year itself. He won the bronze at the Asian Para Games 2022 - held in 2023 - and followed it up with a silver medal at the Morocco Grand Prix in 2022. He also won the bronze at the Hangzhou Para Games last year. This year, he came fourth at the World Championship.
It was not an easy start for Hokato Sema in Paris. He started with a throw of 13.88m, but touched the 14m mark on his second throw and then improved further, to 14.40m. His best came in the fourth attempt, when he eclipsed his personal best of 14.49m.
Iran's Yasin Khosravi won the gold with a Paralympic record throw of 15.96m, while Brazil's Thiago Dos Santos took the silver with his best throw of 15.06m.
India has 27 medals now, with six gold, nine silver and 12 bronze. It is the country's best-ever medal haul in the Paralympic Games history, and with a day more to go, India can hope add more to it.