Parul Parmar on fighting polio and becoming para-badminton champion

The 47-year-old spoke about his career on the seventh episode of The Finish Line.

Parul Parmar was diagnosed with polio at a young age but with grit and determination, she rose to the top of world para-badminton. She revealed how she overcame her disability to become a BWF Para-Badminton World Championships Gold medallist in the seventh episode of 'The Finish Line', a hosted by Asian Games gold medallist squash player Saurav Ghosal.

The show, which was launched on 28 August 2020 with India's only individual Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra as its first guest, is conceptualized and produced by India’s leading sports marketing firm Baseline Ventures.

The seventh episode of the show will be aired on Baseline Ventures' YouTube, Facebook and Instagram pages at 6 pm on Friday, 08 October. During the seventh episode, Parul Parmar delves into how taking up badminton helped her deal with a serious injury she incurred at a young age.

"When I was three years old, I got to know that I was afflicted with polio in my right leg. A few months later I fell down from a swing at home and fractured my collar bone and right leg. Thereafter, my entire body was plastered. Once the plaster was removed, the doctor told me and my family that I should exercise as much as possible," stated Parul Parmar.

"My father used to play badminton at a gymkhana in Gandhinagar and therefore my mother decided that even I should go to the gymkhana along with my father so that I will get the belief that even I can play the sport and carry out regular exercise."

The Arjuna Awardee, who won both singles and doubles at the BWF Para-Badminton World Championships in 2017, spoke about the only thing she always felt pressured by. Parul Parmar remarked, "I always felt the pressure whenever I have been sponsored by a company or anybody else. After going into a tournament after being sponsored by somebody, I always felt the pressure of delivering results for the sponsors."

"When I took part in tournaments through my own funds, then I didn't get tensed about losing. I always wanted to give back something to the sponsors through my results."

The first season of The Finish Line consists of eight parts wherein a sporting legend will be invited to recreate a defining moment in Indian sports in each of the episodes. The sporting stars who have been to show so far are Abhinav Bindra, Viswanathan Anand, Dinesh Karthik, Pankaj Advani, Smriti Mandhana and Leander Paes.