Donate to send the first Indian to Paralympic Wheelchair Marathon
Fuel A Dream
23-year-old Shailesh Kumar, India's fastest wheelchair marathoner, needs a world class wheelchair so that he can train better and compete in the 2020 and 2024 paralympic games. The Ganga Trust has set up a crowdfunding page where people can donate so that this athlete can get his wheelchair.
Shailesh Kumar is a 23-year-old from a small village near Gaya in Bihar. In January last year, he completed a marathon in 2 hours and 20 minutes. If that does not sound amazing enough, bear in mind that he did that on a wheelchair not meant for any sport.
Shailesh has been training hard for the past four years to become India's fastest Wheelchair marathoner. But still, he has not been able to become an international-level athlete simply because he can't afford a good quality marathon wheelchair. However, The Ganga Trust has decided to raise funds to help him buy a world-class wheelchair so that he can compete in the 2020 and 2024 Paralympics.
Shailesh had a spinal cord injury at the age of 17 in June 2011 when he had a fall while his friends were carrying him in celebration of a sporting victory. His injury led to multiple disabilities and he lost sensation and mobility in both his legs. But being the sportsperson that he is, Shailesh did not give up and took up the sport of wheelchair marathon instead.
Apart from his training, he spends time volunteering for a few hours at a local school every day, guiding the children, roping in more educated students as volunteers, conducting tree plantation programs, temple building, taking efforts to improve quality of education at the school, giving tuitions, helping in post-harvest work and training & participating in sports, Shailesh does good work in his village.
If you want to help Shailesh get his wheelchair, you can donate here.
