Khel Ratna Recipient Devendra Jhajharia Feels The Award Should've Been Given To Him At Least 12 Years Ago

Javelin-thrower Devendra Jhajharia soared to new heights by becoming the first Indian para-athlete to win two medals - in his case gold - at the 2016 Paralympic Games. Jhajharia, competing in his second Paralympics, bettered his distance of 62.15m at Athens 2004 with a record throw of 63.97m in the men's javelin throw F46 event.

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Last week, the 35-year-old became the first para-athlete to be recommended for India's highest sporting honour, the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna. Jhajharia - winner of this year's Times of India Sports Award - spoke to TOI Sports about his career before 2004, the struggle from there to today, what becoming a double Paralympic gold medal winner means and how the Indian government can do more to support para-athletes.

Last year you were on the panel to pick the Khel Ratna. Now you are a Khel Ratna. How does it feel?

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I'm very happy. But to be honest, I feel I should have got this award in 2004-05 after I returned home from Athens with my first Paralympic gold medal, which was for a world record. This achievement stood in my absence from the Paralympic stage from 2004 to 2016 (the F46 category was not part of the Games in 2008 and 2012), so today I see it as a reward which has come 12 years late. Its a big honour, no doubt, and to be the first differently-abled athlete to be named for the Khel Ratna makes me feel very happy.

Do you feel you've received the respect and recognition that is due to an athlete of your stature?

Yes, I do. In 2004 no one knew me. I was a new entrant. I was young, naive. In 2016, however, people knew who I was. In Rio, at the athletes' village, when I would enter for lunch and dinner, many world athletes who say 'that is the Indian who is the world record holder". That felt good. Also, I was the Indian team flag bearer, and PM Modi had spoken so kindly about us before we left the country. Kahin na kahin aap ke andar ek responsibility si jaag jaati hai, ki bas ab kuch aur karna hai desh ke liye . Holding the Indian flag in Rio was a different feeling altogether.

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Has the perception of para-athletes changed post the rich haul of medals from Rio last year?

Yes, definitely. The government has recognised us in a very different way, we have been felicitated and honoured. We are recognised now. I would like to thank the media for covering us after the Rio Paralympics, but I urge you all to not stop after the Games. Look beyond that at the national level and state level, and cover what our para-athletes are doing at home and not just overseas.

What are your views on the state of para-athletics in India?

It has improved significantly, from where it was in 2004. A sea change, in fact. When I went to Athens it was very different to how we went to Rio last year. There was so much support for us, and Prime Minister Modi mentioned us on his 'Mann Ki Baat' program. To hear him say that so much has changed in 12 years, but that Devendra has remained the same, that he has not changed or wavered in focus, was inspiring.

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But a lot of work is needed, from the school level upwards. We need special training sessions and facilities. The infrastructure in India has to change. By change, I mean that the best para-athletes in the world should want to come here and train. We need former players to help promote para-athletics. We need more clinics, schemes and academies. We need to include a lot more youth. Work is on, I know it. The government has taken a much bigger interest.

There should be more special academies ... javelin specific academies, for example. And kids need to be brought there and trained and given the freedom to express themselves. To win an Olympic medal you have to be special. And special talent needs special nurturing.

Can you elaborate on what needs to be done to improve the standard?

See, while the support from the government is obviously massive, I feel there needs to be more done at the state level. For example, we need more grounds for para-athletes. We face a lot of wheelchair problems at venues. Access is not always easy. There has been good work done so far, but more needs to happen to support para-athletes and make things simple. Most of this has to come from the state government, because they responsible for infrastructure. Start locally. Bring differently-abled people to the ground, make it easier for them to get there. Only then can their interest build.

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Some states are better equipped than others and are doing well to support us. Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi, mainly. There are special jobs created, cash awards given, schemes created for para-athletes. All that is good, but it is very important for para-athletes to come to Delhi. I cannot stress enough on how important that is. When I started out, getting to Delhi was tough. It should not be tough today.

Are you satisfied with the support of the government and the Sports Authority of India?

Yes. I have benefited hugely from the TOP (Target Olympic Podium) scheme. From this, I was able to travel overseas, I was given access to better training at home and abroad, I got a personal trainer, learned more about dietary planning. My entire planning for Rio was enhanced because of the TOP scheme. I am grateful to the government for that.

Is there a disproportion between funding which Olympians and Paralympians receive from the TOP scheme?

Not that I have seen. I have nothing to complain about.

Is there para-athletic talent coming through?

I think there is plenty of potential, if the youth is encouraged and supported. Look at Mariyappan Thangavelu, who created history by winning gold in the high jump in Rio. He is 22, a long-term prospect. There's something different about him. There's a fire burning inside him. He doesn't know anything else about from his sport. We cannot lose a talent like that. I hope the system supports such athletes.

In those early years, primarily leading up to 2004, how did you raise funding? Who helped you?

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Dekhiye, ek junoon sa tha khud main. I had a goal. I wanted to chase excellence. But I was from a humble farming background. My father was a farmer, but in Rajasthan there are not many returns for a farmer. It was tough to gather funding. I got a little bit of state support, and the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) helped too. Others helped out, but overall it was not easy. I used what little savings I had too. That time was very different, right from the media to the government. There was no social media either. Bilkul alag maahaul tha . How I got to Athens, and how I performed, only I know. It was extremely uplifting to win my first gold back then.

The category in which you won gold in 2004 (F46) was not part of the 2008 and 2012 Paralympics. Did that ever deter you from pursuing it?

Absolutely, yes. It was a very difficult time for me, from a sporting perspective. It is like preparing yourself for a big exam and then seeing that no one is ready to let you take that exam. To keep training so hard and then seeing that you're not getting a chance to go to the Olympics left me considering whether it was worth pursuing sport. I did contemplate giving it all up. In 2010, preparations were on for the 2012 London Paralympics when it was announced which events were to be included. When I saw that my name was not there, because the F46 was not included for the second Games in a row, I was stunned.

This was the same time as when your wife Manju gave up playing kabaddi so you could pursue throwing the javelin?

Yes. I owe her everything. We sat down as a couple and talked it over. She told me she wanted to do everything she possibly could to keep my sporting career alive. "You chase your dream, you do well in sports, you make your name. My sport is not an Olympic one. You have so much ability," she told me. I asked her what good my capability was when my event was not part of the Paralympics, after I had set a world record in Athens.

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She told me forget about 2012, it will return in 2016. My response to her was that I cannot look that far ahead, and once again she told me to be positive and that's when she told me that she would help me. She was a state level kabaddi player, and gave it up because only one of us could have pursue a career in sports. Along the way, we had a daughter too, so she had to raise her.

When I found out that my event was listed for the 2013 IPL Athletics World Championships, I immediately began training. My wife just said to not look back, only focus on getting ready for 2013. So I gave it my all and the result was a gold medal. When you consider all this, it was indeed a very long wait for Rio 2016.

And then, at 35, you broke the record you had set as a 23-year-old. Was that a prouder feeling?

Definitely. To do so at that age, and after that long absence from the international stage, was extremely satisfying. It was justification of all my hard work, of my wife's sacrifice, of my coach's conviction. I showed that nothing is impossible.

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What was your training like for the Rio Paralympics? How do you stay so fit?

It all hard work and focus. I just immersed myself in training. Three hours at a stretch, sometimes four. I didn't see what time it was, it was just about getting up and heading to the ground, giving my best. I had a strict schedule which my coach Sunil Tanwarji chalked out. No phones were allowed. Once, after the practice ground closed, I asked him what time it was. He said it was 8pm and that we should have go have dinner. I asked where, and he said in his hotel room, just as we were, with our kit bags, so that I didn't waste time in the morning getting from where I was staying to the ground. Sabar ka phal meetha zaroor hota hai, magar uske liye bahut mehnat karni padti hai.

There is no official word yet on whether the F46 will be included at the 2020 Tokyo Games. You will be 39 then, but age is no bar for you, is it?

Not at all. Its all in the head. Its about fighting from your mind. Age didn't get in my way when I was training for Rio, and having won a second gold medal at the age of 35, I am even more determined to win one at 39.