Paralympics: Meet Manasi Joshi, the iconic Para shuttler ready to take Paris bow

Manasi Joshi may not boast of a Paralympics medal to her glittering CV yet, but the para shuttler has been a huge inspiration for her ilk for quite a few years now. Now with women’s SL3 category finally added to the upcoming Paralympics in Paris, the former world champion and a software engineer is ready to make her first bow a memorable one.

At 35 years old, a multiple world champion in her sport who is also in demand as a motivational speaker, Manasi is a perfect example of being there, done that. A former world No.2 ranked women’s badminton player in SL 3 category, she was voted as the BBC’s Indian Sportswoman of the Year in 2019 apart from making it to their list of 100 Inspirational Women’s List. The same year, she also won the national award for the Best Sportsperson with Disability.

Her iconic status among the Para athletes saw the makers of Barbie Doll creating a global brand: Manasi Joshi Barbie Doll in 2020 as a tribute to her story of willpower and bravery. She had all but made the cut for Tokyo Paralympics but her category was eventually kept out of that edition – though the other para shuttlers did quite well to return with four medals from there including two gold.

It had been a story of extraordinary courage, willpower and resilience to come back the way Manasi did.  In 2011, Manasi was involved in a serious car accident and lost her ability to walk with her left leg amputated. However, she was soon back with a prosthetic  leg and started undergoing therapy to resume training – the results coming with a women’s singles gold medal at the 2017 Spanish Para Badminton International.

‘’Thanks to many years of consistent performances and so much support from people around me. Couldn’t have made it till here alone,’’ Manasi, who enjoys a sizeable social media following, posted on X earlier this year after qualifying for the Games. The SL3 category, where she will be participating, is defined as follows: athletes competing standing with a lower limb impairment and balance problems walking or running.

On the eve of Independence Day, public sector giants Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) had hosted a send-off ceremony for their employees Manasi and Manoj Sarkar, a gold medallist in Tokyo, as they embark on their journey. Saina Nehwal, the badminton diva and a bronze medallist in London 2012, was a guest of honour and wished them well for the campaign at the Porte La Chapelle Arena – where the badminton event of Olympics took place earlier this month.

The Rajkot-born Manasi made her first career breakthrough as a para shuttler at a national tournament where she defeated Parul Parmar of Maharashtra. In 2015, she made her international debut in Para-Badminton World Championship in Spain, where she won a silver medal for mixed doubles in SL3.

More laurels followed as she won bronze in the women’s doubles category for the SL3 section at the 2016 Para-Badminton Asian Championships. She also won silver in the women’s singles SL3 event, defeating Katarzyna Zieibik at the 2016 Irish Para-Badminton International with another bronze medal in the women’s doubles event SL3 in the same tournament.

The 2019 BWF Para-Badminton Championship Manasi at her best when she landed gold in the finals of the women’s singles SL3 event. This enabled her to make the cut for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics, but her event was not eventually a part of the Games.

Come Paris, Manasi will try to make up for lost time…

Landmarks for Manasi Joshi

• Maharashtra Rajya Eklavya Khel Krida Puraskar Award 2017

• National award for the Best Sportsperson with Disability 2019

• In 100 Inspirational Women’s List (BBC) 2020

• Self-Made Women (Forbes) 2020

• The Indian Sportswoman of the year (BBC - 2019)

• 2015 BWF Para-Badminton World Championship - Silver in singles

• 2016 Asian Para-Badminton Championship -Bronze for singles and doubles

• 2018 Asian Para Games - Bronze in singles

• 2019 BWF Para-Badminton Championship - Gold in singles

• World No.2 Para-Badminton Player in women’s singles SL3 category