In my esteem, he stands over 10 feet tall. Mark Dharmai, the para-athlete world champion level badminton player, proves his motto all right: from the impossible to the possible. Embracing every opportunity that life throws his way, Mark is the epitome of positivity. A meeting with him motivates you to strive for the best, as he has.
It’s his determination that has taken him the world over, from Germany to Canada, to the Asian Games and other tournaments, fiercely wielding that badminton racket and coming up trumps. The accolades include a countless number of medals about which he says modestly, “I really don’t count them… But each medal reminds me of the training and the hard work that went into winning it.”
What drives him is “the challenge of doing something. If there’s something I can do, I want to do it. I want to make people aware that we (dwarfs) exist and we can do it.” And the human motivating force behind him since childhood has been his mother who took a lot of care of him “and motivated me when I wanted to get into sports. From there on, I started pushing myself.” Mrs. Dharmai’s advice to her son was, “Just keep playing and do whatever your heart wants to. Don’t give up. You may fall the first, second and third time but the fourth time people will appreciate you.”
Combined with the movie Rocky Balboa, which had a strong impact on him, he went forward. Like he says, “when I watched that movie I was really inspired. And the song ‘Eye of the Tiger’ drives me – I play it while working out.”
Mark has also been blessed with a strong support system by the way of close friends from Chimbai, where he lives. “They are my childhood friends who have supported me in good and bad times. If not for a strong support system, it would have been very difficult.”
But keeping the blessings all to himself is the last thing Mark wants! He’s constantly on the lookout for people to train and has put many para-athletes on the map, with his dedication. Like the three-feet tall Bina Gandhi who he’s training in shot put for the Dwarf Olympics in 2022, to be held in Germany… and the badminton players Ruhi Shingade and Suresh Sutar.
Where does his professional inspiration come from? “It’s from my life coach Nawal Seth (a gem of a person), who’s very encouraging to dispel negativity and show us the way forward. I travel to Lucknow where my coach has a base camp for para-athletes and at times, he sends us to Bangalore, where we play with able bodies. It’s very different playing with them – you learn from your mistakes and it’s more of a challenge. Being informed by our coach that we are on world level tournaments, they respect us and share a lot with us. Ever since I got a membership for Bandra Gym as well, a lot of the members have helped me improve my game. I also travel to camps in Haryana and Chandigarh.”
His favourite badminton player is the now-retired Lin Dan, who he got to meet when he attended the Yonex organised Legend Vision meet. “In fact, I got to meet all the legends, which was my dream!”
He is also strong about – country first – when it comes to representing India. “It makes me very proud and gives me a lot of courage. You have to respect the country you come from.” He admits that he has received support at the state level too and now knows how the system works. “Considering the struggle I went through, I don’t want others to go through the same. I do as much as I can in my capacity to help someone else.”
Does he have an eye on the Dwarf Olympics 2022 to be held in Germany? He enthuses, “Yes, I have to go! But only if I get sponsors…The government supports some tournaments but where Germany is concerned, we have to go on our own. My life coach, who I mentioned earlier, Mr. Nawal Seth, will explain how to go about things and Dr. Cheryl D’Souza the dentist is also guiding me. The badminton player Disha Pandya also supports us.”
But as always, Mark is thinking bigger and out of the box since he wants to take along at least 25 athletes! He’s not sure of generating the funds right now and admits, “I know this is very challenging but let’s see. I really want to make people aware that there are people like us… You do find life partners when you go there as well. Around 600-800 athletes attend these tournaments and you get to make good friends too.” He, of course, has many from Britain, the U.S., Canada, Beirut and even Egypt!
Language, for him, is not a stumbling block on an international level. “Since I was born and brought up in Bandra, thankfully, English is no problem. A lot of people have difficulty speaking the language. When I went abroad for the first time there was this impression that I am from India so I can’t speak English. But they were surprised when I went up and had a conversation with people!”
His ultimate goal is to have his own academy where others like him can play the sports they like and motivate others. “People are aware of able sports persons but they don’t know much about us.” So Mark tries to create awareness wherever he goes and reaches out to them. “There are schemes for them to get help – like my bike (it’s a modified three-wheeler) is from a government scheme. There are also other schemes like a quota for government jobs, bank schemes, senior citizen schemes.”
Tough beginnings, like the bullying in school, etc., didn’t get him down for long. “But you can’t be negative. You have to get out of that space.” Again, it was his mother who pushed him with. “the world is not going to feed you, I am feeding you.” So he always remains positive despite the fact that, “You have to climb that ladder one step at a time and that is difficult.”
But he did it and reiterates “I always have that support – be it from my family, godparents, friends or even the religious-like priests. It was a great challenge but I took it up and succeeded… My biggest support comes from God Almighty and prayers. I want people to know that if I could do it, they can too.”
When you think of celebrating life, truly, Mark comes to mind! We hope he gets all the support he needs to champion the cause of para-athletes like him…
