Niranjan Mukundan's singular focus wins him accolades

Bengaluru

Trailblazingpara - swimmer Niranjan Mukundan has prov- en yet again that he's a force to be reckoned with. Having recently reached the top five of the world rankings for the 200m In- dividual Medley in the SM7 category, Niranjan says that while the achieve- ment has brought a sense of  satisfaction, his only goal is to give maximum effort in the water. “To be really honest, to give 100% is the only goal. And milestones and re- cords are like an added accessory. I always say this, giving 100% in the wa- ter is what I think of doing. But then winning medals, creating records, break- ing records were all like a supplement to it.

I know that tomorrow someone can be better than me who's going to break that record. But what excites me is sometimes when you become the first, like when I became the first Indian to win 100 interna- tional medals,” Mukun- dan said. Listening to Mukundan talk about his mindset, it appears that he thrives in the simplicity of his ob- jective to give everything, both in competition and in life.

“When I started, even ini- tially, people did not have the awareness. People only thought that this kid has a disability and he's doing something just to while away time. But my mentality was very, very simple: What-ever I'm doing, I have to give my 100%. And another one is a never give up attitude. There are days where people don't recognize you.

There are times where people feel what you're doing is ab- solute nonsense. People don't see your future. But it's their point of view. If there's something that excites you, if there's something that makes you happy, that's some- thing that you should do. And that's something that I took to heart,” he said. At this stage of his ca- reer, he can reflect on his amazing journey and he confesses that he’s had to sacrifice much.

“Small tiny drops make an ocean. All these tiny drops of sacrifices, the hard work that you put in, the sleepless nights, dreaming about it and you’ve got to manifest it. Once I started playing for India, I manifested it. ‘One day, I want to represent India, I want to go to the Paralympic Games.’ That happened with a lot of struggle. That happened when I questioned myself. But then, I kept going.

As I always say, I had the right set of people with me who helped me achieve that,” Niranjan said. But the journey is not over yet. Niranjan Mukun- dan will be competing in the upcoming Asian Para Games, getting back on track after difficult injuries and trying to bring back as many medals as he can. “I missed out on an Asian Games medal last time by 2 microseconds. It was back-to-back two events where I missed out less than one second in two different events. So, I want to change that,” he said.