How Manasi Joshi conquered all odds to become world para-badminton champion

It is her attitude towards life and its obstacles that has carried Manasi Joshi, the para badminton world champion, through the challenges that she faced. Joshi is the winner of the gold medal at the Para Badminton World Championship in Switzerland’s Basel in 2019.

Going beyond her achievements Joshi is a truly inspiring figure not just for the specially-abled but everyone who is struggling in life.

In December 2011 Joshi, who is a software engineer on her way to work on a bike was hit by a truck coming from the wrong direction. The next 45 days she underwent six surgeries and when doctors realised they couldn’t save her left leg, it was amputated above the knee.

Worried about her future, she asked a doctor if she could play badminton. The reply that she could do anything, even climb Mount Everest changed her forever.

Following this mantra, she returned to practice badminton which she loved among all the other sports she played with prosthetics.

Talking to paralympic.org, Joshi said: “At that time I would just do standing strokes, but that gave me a lot of confidence, especially in walking. The whole journey for me has started through sport. When I started with my rehabilitation process, sport helped me quicken it. When life gave me a different direction, sport was a major part of it.”

The sport going beyond physical benefits helped her to gain self-confidence which was essential for her to cope with other challenges of life. Airing her views on this she said: “Practising sports as a person with disability can definitely be life changing. I wish every person with a disability gets the benefit of sport, like it has given me.”

Winning at Basel made her a well-known figure in India. She was included in the Time Magazine for its list of ‘Next Generation Leaders’. A special Barbie doll was released in her honour in 2020.

Today she is a role model for youngsters and loves to share her story with others as she feels that it will motivate the next generation.