Vetri Arasan had polio when he was a child, but the paralysis that ensued did not stop him from taking up swimming — all thanks to his specialist coach M. Pandian.
Mr. Pandian, a former national diving champion, has been engaged in coaching children with disabilities in the city for over a decade. He has produced several differently-abled swimming champions, including Arumugam, a national champion.
Coming from the fishing community, he went on to train as a coach at the National Institute of Sports in Bangalore. Once he found that many other coaches were reluctant to go the extra mile to train the differently abled, he decided to take the plunge. “All it needs is a lot of patience and time,” he claims.
Mr. Pandian has been part of the Indian contingent in five international events including the 1995 Special Olympics in the U.S.
Similarly, P. Murugesh, a native of Salem and the principal swimming instructor at the Anna University swimming pool, has also been training differently-abled students for more than five years.
