Civil services aspirant-turned-Parlampics medallist: Sachin Khilari overcomes hand impairment, family struggles to win shot put silver

As a kid, when Sachin Khilari was growing up in Kargani village in the Sangli district of Maharashtra, he was told by his father, Sarjerao Rangnath Khilari, a Maharashtra Krishi Bhushan awardee, to study hard and become an officer.

On Wednesday afternoon, as 34-year-old Khilari won the silver medal in the men’s shot put F46 final with an Asian record throw of 16.32m, younger brother Ajit Khilari knew Sachin would be remembering his late father, who died almost an year ago.

“Our father was passionate about farming. While he also taught Sachin a lot about farming, he always wanted Sachin to be a civil servant. He wanted Sachin to do work in the civil administration solving problems of farmers,” Ajit told The Indian Express.

A stellar throw & a well-deserved Silver Medal for Sachin Khilari in Men's Shot Put F46 at the #Paralympics2024! Your effort embodies the true spirit of sportsmanship & perseverance, making Bharat proud!

Under the visionary leadership of the PM Shri @narendramodi ji, Bharat is… pic.twitter.com/hlLNiQpwpx

— Dr Mansukh Mandaviya (@mansukhmandviya) September 4, 2024

Kargani has been famous for pomengrate farming and the Khilari family owned 16 acres of farming land in the late 1990s. Then nine years old, Sachin suffered a fall from a bicycle near his home resulting in a fracture in his left hand. Days after, gangrene developed in the hand and it resulted in restricted movement of the hand.

“Sometimes, village kids would taunt me about my hand but then my father always encouraged me and told me that only education can shut such people’s mouths,” Khilari had told this reporter in May.

Since Sachin was good in his studies, his father wanted him to be an engineer and he cleared the entrance exams to get a seat in mechanical engineering at Indira College of Engineering in Pune in the late 2000s.

It was during a fitness session at Pune’s Municipal Corporation stadium that coach Arvind Chavan first spotted Sachin. He initially trained Khilari in discus throw and javelin throw and the youngster would win the gold medal in All India Inter Univeristy State Championships with a throw of 60m in javelin throw in 2012.

It also meant that Sachin competed against able-bodied athletes, a thing which Chavan says helped him to tackle high-pressure situations. “Sachin always had the natural strength for the discus throw and javelin throw events and his run-up and throwing techniques were smooth. He has this explosive strength in javelin too and initially would throw the javelin in the range of 55-60m,” remembers Chavan. In 2013, Sachin’s decision to prepare for the UPSC and Maharashtra State exams meant that the Maharashtra athlete took a break of more than three years from the sport.

During his UPSC preparations, Khilari read about Rio Paralympics champion javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia and decided to compete in the para events. After getting classified for his category in 2016, he won the gold in javelin throw with a throw of 58.47m in the Para Nationals in Jaipur in 2017.

This period of his life coincided with the time that the Khilari family faced a significant financial crunch due to the draught years in Maharashtra. Sachin had to work as a teacher in a coaching institute for some time.

“I would practice for two hours in the morning and teach aspiring UPSC students Geography for six hours in the day the whole week to earn some money from 2017 to 2020,” the Paralympian had told this newspaper.

After a shoulder injury, sustained after he became the national champion in the F 46 category in javelin throw, Sachin thought of quitting the discipline. A call from then-national coach Satya Narayana helped him decide to compete in shot put instead, and the Maharashtra athlete would win a gold in the World Para Grand Prix in Tunisia the same year.

“Sachin always had power, due to his tall height and build, but when he started shotput, the left-hand impairment would hamper his blocking before the throw. So the key was to get his left shoulder muscles strong. Doing bench presses and snatch with his right hand at the gym helped his progress from the 14m mark to the 16m marks in 2023. The glide came naturally to him and he would also watch videos of then two-time Olympic champion Ryan Crouser,” Chavan said.

Last year, Sachin won his first world para title with an Asian record throw of 16.21m. He also won gold at the Hangzhou Para Asian Games with a throw of 16.03m. Earlier this year, Khilari won his second para world title with a best throw of 16.30m ahead of Greg Stewart of Canada and world record holder Joshua Cinnamo of USA.

After his seminal achievement – winning silver at the Paralympics – Ajit and his three sisters are also taking blessings of the portrait of their mother, who had died 28 years ago, at the Khilari home in the village just as they do after each of Sachin’s successes.

“Whenever he wins the medal, he puts the medal in front of our mother’s picture to take her blessings,” Ajit says.

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