Chandu Champion tells the story of Murlikant Petkar, India’s first Paralympic gold medallist, a figure whose own journey is part of what makes this award feel particularly weighty. Petkar was a soldier with the Indian Army’s Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers when he was shot and left paraplegic during an attack on his camp in the 1965 war with Pakistan. He rebuilt his life around sport instead, competing in swimming, javelin, precision javelin, slalom, shot put and table tennis, having already won a boxing gold at the Military Games in Japan before his injury.
