Paris, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 27th August, 2024) The Paris Paralympics are very significant for the powers of Ukraine, as great performances can help maimed veterans to conceive their new circumstances, the Tokyo fencing silver medalist Artem Manko told AFP.
The 25-year-old says previous impressive medal hauls have raised respect for the disabled in Ukraine to the highest level ever.
However, for those who have suffered life-changing injuries on the battlefield since Russia invaded in February 2022, mentally adjusting is a challenge in itself.
Therefore, Manko says it is imperative that he and his teammates maintain Ukraine’s pre-eminence when the Paralympics begin on Wednesday – they finished third on the medal table in Rio and sixth in Tokyo.
“It doesn’t just help boost morale at home, it helps disability in society,” Manko told AFP by phone from his training camp last week.
“After the last Paralympics, Ukraine received so many medals, we inspired the nation and I think we are now at the highest level of disability acceptance.
“This is really important now as there are many wounded soldiers without legs, hands and in wheelchairs.
“It is very important for them to feel that disabled people are accepted in society.”
The challenge facing the Ukrainians is also that many of them have had to face an enormously disrupted preparation, like many of their compatriots who are experiencing difficulties just to go about their daily lives.
Manko was at least able to train in Germany after he and his fellow fencers were first invited two years ago by their German counterparts.
Many, however, such as Tokyo bronze medalist swimmer Anna Hontar, two-time world champion in the 50m freestyle, were not so lucky.
While the 20-year-old told AFP she was looking forward to her second Games – “the second big start of life” – she added that the preparations had been tough.
“Before the Paralympics, my team and I had to train somewhere to get equipment and such,” Hontar said.
“Every preparation for the competitions is difficult and important, but this time it is more difficult, when there is a threat of missile attacks or bombings.
“We are asked to leave the sports hall and go to the shelter for our safety.
“There are a lot of air raid sirens, and that affects your state of mind.
“The explosions I recently heard in Poltava scared me a lot and I couldn’t sleep peacefully.”
– “Unbreakable” –
Training outside the country also has disadvantages, as para-badminton star Oksana Kozyna has found.
The 29-year-old, who says she made history for her country by being crowned world champion in 2022 “brings tears to my eyes and gives me goosebumps”, moved to France shortly after the ‘invasion and lacked a sparring partner.
However, it was leaving his family that hit Kozyna hard, especially since he has a brother fighting on the front lines.
“Leaving your family is always difficult, especially if you have a good relationship, but I was forced to go to another country to defend my country in terms of sport,” she told AFP.
“This is a painful subject for me, in fact, normally I don’t talk about it to anyone. When I left the country, leaving my family, I realized that I repeated the fate of my parents, this is very unpleasant.
“When I was born, my parents decided to leave me, and when I was 15 they were found and when I left for another country, I realized that this time I left them.
“I worry because a bomb could hit (them) at any moment.”
Another disturbing factor for the Ukrainians is the presence of 96 Russians and Belarusians at the Paralympics, although they are competing under a neutral flag and prevented from attending the opening and closing ceremonies in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
“I’m shocked,” Hontar said. “This is scandalous, I don’t know how it is possible to be close to these opponents, and knowing that many of them support the attack on Ukraine.
“When the war started, on the first day, I returned from Nikolaev to Kherson, and then two days later they captured Kherson and I was busy for a month.
“I have seen a lot and I will say that our people are unbreakable, strong, incredible.”
Kozyna is more phlegmatic.
“For me, every opponent is like a Russian; I won, won and left,” he said.
(Except translation, this story has not been edited by pipanews staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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