With dreams of becoming IAS & winning Paralympics medals, specially-abled athletes shine in CBSE exams

Indian Express

14-05-2025

On Tuesday afternoon, as 20-year-old fully visually impaired athlete Kashish Yadav asked her mother Raj Kumari and sister Mansi Yadav to check her Class XII CBSE result, Kumari would tell her daughter, 'Tu isme bhi acha hi karegi,'(you will do good in this too).
A student of the Institute for the Blind, Sector 26, who had won a total of five medals, including gold in the girls' 400m, 800m, and 1500m events, apart from a gold in the 4x400m relay and a silver in the 4x100m relay in the 23rd National Athletics Championship for the Blind held in Nadiad, Gujarat earlier this year, scored 92.4 per cent (Arts) in her Class XII exams.
The Ambala resident, who wants to be an IAS officer, told her mother to make some more space in the cabinet for her academic achievements.
'My parents Om Prakash and Raj Kumari have always encouraged me to give my best in whatever field my interest lies. When they sent me to the Institute for the Blind, Sector 26, in 2018, I was also fascinated by sports and picked up sports under coach Rakesh Sharma.For the past four years, I have been studying late nights with the support of our teachers while I trained in the evening at the Sector 7 Sports Complex. I want to be like the former UT excise and taxation commissioner, IAS Rupesh Kumar, who was also the director of our institute earlier.He suffers from retinitis pigmentosa, a kind of vision loss, and is currently posted in Jammu and Kashmir,' said Yadav, speaking with The Indian Express from Ambala.
Yadav had won five medals in last year's nationals, too. The 20-year-old also wants to compete in the Paralympics for India and idolises Paris Paralympic bronze medallist Simran Sharma. 'I want to win medals for India in the Paralympics too. Our coach Rakesh Sharma, apart from teachers Anu Tandon, Nirmala and Rekha, and our chairman Dinesh Kumar Kapila have always encouraged us to balance studies as well as sports,' said Yadav.
Yadav's classmate Abhishek Kumar, who too is fully visually impaired, had won three medals, including a silver in the 4×400 relay and a bronze each in the 5000m and 800m in the national meet at Nadiad. Kumar hails from Dagla village in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh.
The 12th standard student lost both his parents Rashpal Singh and Kamlesh Kumari at a young age. Raised by his grandmother Kaushalya Devi and uncle Sudarshan Singh and aunt, Kumar had scored 90 per cent in Class X and 79.6 per cent (Arts) in Class XII on Tuesday.
'I was too young when I lost my parents, but my grandmother and uncle always encouraged me to study and sent me here. I had scored 90 per cent in the tenth exams, and the medals in the 2022 nationals motivated me a lot. I am inspired by Milkha Singh sir,' Kumar had told this paper earlier this year. 'Abhishek has never lost hope amid all the challenges he faced. To see him get good marks is special news for the whole school,' said coach Rakesh Sharma.
Another student of the institute, Tanisha, who is partially visually impaired, scored 67 per cent in Class X results. The 18-year-old, whose father Anil Kumar is a postman in Chandigarh, had won gold in the girls' 1500m and the 4x400m relay, a silver in the 4x100m relay, and bronze in the 400m and 800m events in her category at Nadiad. 'I always dreamt of winning medals on the athletics track, and scoring a good percentage in the tenth exams is a special feeling. I want to win medals for India in the Paralympics,' says Tanisha
Another student of the institute, Tanisha, who is partially visually impaired, scored 67 per cent in Class X results.
The 18-year-old, whose father Anil Kumar is a postman in Chandigarh, had won gold in the girls' 1500m and the 4x400m relay, a silver in the 4x100m relay, and bronze in the 400m and 800m events in her category at Nadiad. 'I always dreamt of winning medals on the athletics track, and scoring a good percentage in the tenth exams is a special feeling. I want to win medals for India in the Paralympics,' says Tanisha.
Nitin Sharma is an Assistant Editor with the sports team of The Indian Express. Based out of Chandigarh, Nitin works with the print sports desk while also breaking news stories for the online sports team. A Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Award recipient for the year 2017 for his story 'Harmans of Moga', Nitin has also been a two-time recipient of the UNFPA-supported Laadli Media Awards for Gender Sensitivity for the years 2022 and 2023 respectively.
Nitin mainly covers Olympics sports disciplines with his main interests in shooting, boxing, wrestling, athletics and much more. The last 17 years with The Indian Express has seen him unearthing stories across India from as far as Andaman and Nicobar to the North East. Nitin also covers cricket apart from women's cricket with a keen interest. Nitin has covered events like the 2010 Commonwealth Games, the 2011 ODI World Cup, 2016 T20 World Cup and the 2017 AIBA World Youth Boxing Championships.
An alumnus of School of Communication Studies, Panjab University, from where he completed his Masters in Mass Communications degree, Nitin has been an avid quizzer too. A Guru Nanak Dev University Colour holder, Nitin's interest in quizzing began in the town of Talwara Township, a small town near the Punjab-Himachal Pradesh border. When not reporting, Nitin's interests lie in discovering new treks in the mountains or spending time near the river Beas at his hometown. ... Read More