18.12.2015
Somewhat similar to the Bollywood film 'Iqbal', is the story of Abdul Samad, a hearing and speech impaired hockey player from Madhya Pradesh. Hailing from Bhopal in central India, he plays hockey with able-bodied athletes for Madhya Pradesh in spite of being unable to hear and speak.
For this 26-year-old though, the journey to play his game at the national level was a rough one to say the least. At first, he was a victim of glares and much ridicule for having aspirations of playing with able-bodied athletes. But his lack of abilities could not stop him from proving the potential of his athletic skills with the hockey stick. He taught basic sign language to his teammates, learnt to lip read and there he was - a willing a able competitor as a hockey goalkeeper.
"When I first approached SAI for training and they said no. I felt terrible. I requested them to give me a chance. I proved myself and was selected. I dream to play for Team India and make the country proud like Iqbal did in the film," Samad communicated with the help of his brother to NDTV recently.
Abdul Wahab, his father, a former national-level player himself, tells how Samad took to the stick sport. "When Abdul was a child he used to accompany me to the stadium for practices and gradually grew fond of the game and started playing. Initially, I felt he cannot speak or hear so how will he communicate on the field? So then we started training him to be a goalkeeper," Wahab said.
Former Olympian and Samad's coach Ashok Dhyanchand also marvels at his story and says it is for the first time in his 50-year hockey career that he's heard of someone of his abilities playing at the national levels. Now, Samad's cabinet at his home is laden with trophies won at the state level.
Somewhat similar to the Bollywood film 'Iqbal', is the story of Abdul Samad, a hearing and speech impaired hockey player from Madhya Pradesh. Hailing from Bhopal in central India, he plays hockey with able-bodied athletes for Madhya Pradesh in spite of being unable to hear and speak.
For this 26-year-old though, the journey to play his game at the national level was a rough one to say the least. At first, he was a victim of glares and much ridicule for having aspirations of playing with able-bodied athletes. But his lack of abilities could not stop him from proving the potential of his athletic skills with the hockey stick. He taught basic sign language to his teammates, learnt to lip read and there he was - a willing a able competitor as a hockey goalkeeper.
"When I first approached SAI for training and they said no. I felt terrible. I requested them to give me a chance. I proved myself and was selected. I dream to play for Team India and make the country proud like Iqbal did in the film," Samad communicated with the help of his brother to NDTV recently.
Abdul Wahab, his father, a former national-level player himself, tells how Samad took to the stick sport. "When Abdul was a child he used to accompany me to the stadium for practices and gradually grew fond of the game and started playing. Initially, I felt he cannot speak or hear so how will he communicate on the field? So then we started training him to be a goalkeeper," Wahab said.
Former Olympian and Samad's coach Ashok Dhyanchand also marvels at his story and says it is for the first time in his 50-year hockey career that he's heard of someone of his abilities playing at the national levels. Now, Samad's cabinet at his home is laden with trophies won at the state level.
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