Who is Pooja Ojha? All you need to know about the Indian para-canoe athlete competing at the Paris 2024 Paralympics
The Paris 2024 Paralympics will see 84 para-athletes compete in 12 sports for glory, and para-canoe athlete Pooja Ojha is among those expected to give stiff competition to her opponents in the women’s kayak single 200m KL1 event. The Paris 2024 Paralympics will take place between August 28 and September 8.
Born with below-waist paralysis as well as facing challenges such as poverty and an intense aquaphobia, Pooja Ojha has struggled and persevered all her life, tasting success in para-canoe only at the later stages of her career.
Now a seasoned player with multiple international medals, Pooja will look to put a fairytale ending to her career by winning a medal at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.
Pooja Ojha’s career in brief
While the Paralympic Games are always a source of inspirational stories, Pooja Ojha’s journey from her village to the biggest stage of all in the French capital is nothing short of extraordinary. She was born to daily wage laborer parents in a town named Bhind in Madhya Pradesh, where poverty and gender disparity ran high.
Since her birth, Pooja suffered from polio and had an 80% locomotor disability. As a result, she had to be carried around by her parents. Instead of being daunted by her circumstances, she was soon drawn to watersports after passing by a narrow water stream in her town. However, she suffered from intense aquaphobia, which manifested as a fear of drowning.
However, with the help of her coaches, including para-canoe coach Mayank Thakur, she slowly overcame her fear of water. In 2017, she finally took up para-canoeing as her profession.
Since then, nothing has been able to stop the passion and perseverance shown by Pooja, and she has won 10 international medals since picking up the sport only seven years ago. This includes India’s first medal in the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Halifax, Canada in 2022.
Pooja Ojha also won a silver medal in the VL1 200m event at the Para Canoe World Championship 2024 in Hungary at the age of 38. Now in France, the veteran canoe athlete will look to complete her date with destiny by achieving a podium finish at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.