Sundar Singh Gurjar, who won a Paralympic bronze, thanked his coach Mahavir Saini for helping him when he was going through a tough time in his life. Till 2015, Sundar competed in able-bodied competitions and was even a part of the junior national camp featuring Tokyo Olympics gold-medallist Neeraj Chopra.

However, an accident changed his life. Having lost a limb, Sundar didn’t lose hope and returned to the turf in the para-athlete category.

In a year’s time, he qualified for the 2016 Rio Paralympics but was disqualified.

“…I fought back and qualified for 2016 Paralympics only to be disqualified. That time I started thinking everything is finished, there is nothing left for me,” Sundar said in an interview to PTI.

“I thought of committing suicide but that time my coach (Mahavir Saini) realised something wrong is going on in my mind. For a month he kept me along with him 24×7, didn’t leave me alone,” he added.

“As time passed, my thoughts started to change. I started thinking I will start playing again and answer back to the world,” the javelin bronze medallist said.

Sundar credited his coach Mahavir for single-handedly transforming his life and career.

“I used to play sports since 2009. Initially, I used to do shot put and I had a medal in shot put in nationals. I did shot put for one-and-half years and after that my coach Mahavir Saini told me if you have to shine in your career you have to leave shot put and start javelin,” he said.

Having completed the Paralympics, Sundar eyes a gold medal in the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

Currently, Sundar has been working as an officer in the Rajasthan government’s forest department since November 5, 2020.

“I have been working in forest department in Rajasthan since 5th November 2020. But the day I won the Paralympics medal, within two hours I got my first salary of 10 months,” Sundar said.