KOLKATA: A week before travelling to Paris for the Paralympics, Hokato Hotozhe Sema was down with fever. He should have been making his final preparations but was instead feeling physically weak and mentally down.
"Even after reaching Paris, I couldn't train properly because of my illness and just took rest for the first two days to recover," said Sema, who won bronze in the men's F57 shot put at the just-concluded Paralympics.
Not being in his best shape, Sema wasn't thinking about winning a medal then. But it all changed after the 40-year-old Dimapur-born army man - who had lost his left leg below the knee following a landmine blast in 2002 - entered the Stade de France on Sept 6.
"The huge crowd at the stadium gave me a big boost. It fired me up. I once again felt that I could do it. My mind felt fresh, I was feeling active again. It was as if power was rushing through my veins and nothing seemed impossible," he added.
What followed was stuff of dreams. "I knew what the world rankings were. After the first five athletes made their throws, I knew I had a chance to win a medal if I could give my best," said Sema.
And he did just that.
After starting with a throw of 13.88m, he had throws of 14m and 14.40m. However, his fourth throw of 14.65m was not only his best of the night but also his personal best, enough to help him finish third behind Iran's Yasin Khosravi (gold) and Brazil's Thiago Dos Santos (silver).
However, all this might not have been possible but for Col Gaurav Dutta, who introduced Sema to the sport in 2016 as the Officer in Charge at Army Paralympic Node in Pune. "I used to go to the Artificial Limb Centre in Pune very often and one day I met Sema there and asked him if he would love to take up sports. He was reluctant at first, but I told him what I had in mind. At the barracks I took the first throw and then asked him to make the throw and he obviously threw farther than me," said Col Gaurav.
The effort by Sema was more than enough to satisfy the colonel, who is currently the chairman of Para-Rowing Commission, Rowing Federation of India and a member of World Para Rowing Commission. While Sema was asked to go back to his unit and start training, the official letter to join the Node came a few days later and it was the beginning of a wonderful journey.
It was, however, full of challenges. "After taking part in the National Para Athletics Championships in 2017, I took part in the Chinese Grand Prix which was my first international event. I had financial constraints then but my officers helped me out and I returned with a bronze," the army man recalled.
But his biggest challenge was to shift from standing shot put to sitting since the former was scrapped from his category. "I was worried at first but my OICs kept motivating me and told me that since I have been successful in the standing position, I wouldn't have any issues with the sitting technique," added Sema.
Their words inspired him to carry on and he finally was back in action in 2022 and bagged a silver medal at Morocco GP. He followed it up with a bronze in Asian Para Games. However, he missed the podium at the Worlds in 2023 as well as 2024. Sena came back with a bang though in Paris and his coach Rakesh Rawat, who is a Subedar Major in 15 Jat, believes he will now be able to better his show in the next Paralympics.
"For a year we worked very hard without taking any leaves and this medal is a result of that. He is 40 years old, but he trained continuously. Coming from the army, his mentality was always very strong," said Rawat, who began working with Sema two years back. Rawat had also trained Kasinath Naik who bagged bronze in javelin at 2010 Commonwealth Games, but Sema's feat is the proudest moment of his coaching career.
Rawat now has already started looking ahead but Sema will be taking a much-needed break. He wants to come back stronger and give his best at the Paralympics World Championships in November 2025.
