Latest news with #ParisParalympics
Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
This week's TV: Jason Momoa in ‘Chief of War,' a Marc Maron comedy special, a Leanne Morgan sitcom, and more
'Adaptive,' Today on Peacock: From the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics to the 2024 Paris Paralympics, the three-episode sports docuseries homes in on the dedicated athletes with disabilities overcoming physical and emotional hurdles to achieve victory. Among the series' standouts are one-legged Ezra Frech, who suffered from a congenital limb impairment at birth. Frech competes in both the high and long jumps. In 2024, he garnered two gold medals. Swimmer Jamal Hill has battled the degenerative Charcot-Marie-Tooth disorder while pursuing his athletic dreams. Meanwhile, Josie Aslakson won a silver medal in 2024 as a member of the US women's national wheelchair basketball team. Next stop? The 2026 Paralympics Games in Milan-Cortina. Advertisement 'Dope Girls,' Today on Hulu: 'Hacks'' Dance Mom Advertisement 'Conversations with a Killer: The Son of Sam Tapes,' Wednesday on Netflix. Like the never-ending stories of Charles Manson and his circle, New York's 'Leanne,' Thursday on Netflix: Sitcom king Chuck Lorre ('The Big Bang Theory,' 'Mom') fashions a sitcom around stand-up Leanne Morgan. The Southerner's protagonist is trying to remake herself in her 60s after her husband of 33 years leaves to follow his bliss. With the help of her sister (Kristen Johnson) and mother (Celia Weston), Leanne's going to make it as a single senior after all — but the humor lies in the epic fails along the way. All 16 episodes drop at once. 'Marc Maron: Panicked,' Friday on HBO Max: The mustached Boston University alum, stand-up comic, Advertisement Thelma Adams is a cultural critic and the author of the best-selling historical novel 'The Last Woman Standing,' about Josephine Marcus, the Jewish wife of Wyatt Earp.
Time of India
16-07-2025
- Sport
- Time of India
Jehan Dorab Madan: Inspiring Journey from Paralysis to Table Tennis Champion
An accident in 2007 left him paralysed. Now, J D Madan is back on the podium, winning medals in table tennis M Sudharshan | TNN Until 2007, Jehan Dorab Madan led an active life as a professional racing driver, while tennis, windsurfing and swimming in the ocean were among his hobbies. However, his life took a dramatic turn after an accident left him paralysed. But Madan from Tamil Nadu , a passionate sportsperson, refused to give up. Fourteen years after the accident, in 2021, he discovered a love for table tennis and has been making steady progress ever since. What has helped him excel in the sport, winning medals at international and national levels, is the disciplined approach he has maintained towards his recovery. You Can Also Check: Chennai AQI | Weather in Chennai | Bank Holidays in Chennai | Public Holidays in Chennai 'When you are paralysed, the most important thing is to stay active so your body can function,' says the 48-year-old. 'At one point, I could not even lift a spoon, but I kept trying so my body would start to adapt. Now, everything seems easy.' Madan, a class 1 (wheelchair) athlete, won multiple medals at the recent ITTF events in Taipei (Future) and Kaohsiung (Challenger). In Kaohsiung, he clinched silver in the men's singles, losing to multiple Olympic medallist Joo Young Dae of South Korea. 'The Kaohsiung competition was a game-changing event for me. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like This Could Be the Best Time to Trade Gold in 5 Years IC Markets Learn More Undo I never used to win from losing positions, but this time, I managed to do that on multiple occasions. I identified my opponent's weaknesses even when he was leading, took some risks which I had not done before, and it paid off,' says Madan, who won gold in the Khelo India Para Games earlier this year. Madan has also started to gain confidence in himself as he travels frequently and manages things on his own, something that was not possible between 2007 and 2021. 'I thought my world was confined to my home. But travelling around the world opened my mind and gave me confidence. Simple things like going to the supermarket or taking a bus are possible abroad, which is not the case in India due to accessibility issues.' Madan had a tough season last year and failed to qualify for the Paris Paralympics; however, the lessons learned from competing against top-ranked players have shaped him into a better athlete. While Madan predominantly competes in the Future and Challenger categories, he is slowly pushing the bar and gaining valuable points to enter elite-level tournaments. 'Next year will give me a better idea of where I stand in terms of qualifying for the Los Angeles Paralympics. The ranking system has changed, and top-ranked players will need to participate in competitions to earn points,' says Madan, who is ranked 22nd in the world. Robot rally Madan mostly trains with a robot at home, which he says is helpful as it allows him to focus on specific drills. 'Players in my category often try to prevent their opponent from reaching the ball by playing close to the net. So, I spend half of my session practising those shots, and then I play with my able-bodied friends who compete at club level.'
Irish Examiner
26-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
My and my leg: Paralympian Tiarnán O'Donnell on the physical, emotional and financial toll of pain and prosthetics
RETURNING home from the Paris Paralympics, Tiarnán O'Donnell couldn't even carry his own bag through the airport. He was a walking hazard. He was once again disabled and dependent. It had been six years since that combination had last dictated to him. Having just competed at the pinnacle of his sport, the contrast could not have been greater. And the contrast was only beginning. Leaving Dublin Airport in the background, Tiarnán was ferried to the family home in Boher, a quick spin outside Limerick City. From participation at the largest-ever gathering of para athletes to finding himself stuck in his childhood bedroom. He could no longer walk freely and unaided as he had done for the previous six years. He couldn't even carry a drink, never mind cook for himself. Back leaning on others. Back leaning on crutches. The wheelchair was also taken out of storage. Neither had been called upon in over half a decade. The simple act of going out to meet friends became a hassle. After two years of putting life on hold to get himself into the PR2 mixed double sculls boat in Paris, the plan was to spend a couple of months exploring Asia and behaving as regular 26-year-olds do. That plan, along with every other post-Games plan, had to be pulled. His independence had been stripped. The cost of reclaiming his independence and once lived reality came with a €67,000 price tag. *** 2024 Paris Paralympic Games, Vaires-sur-Marne Nautical Stadium, Paris, France 30/8/2024 Ireland's Katie O'Brien and Tiarnan O'Donnell on their way to finishing fourth Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Maren Derlien Tiarnán O'Donnell strolls into Ballincollig's Talbot Hotel on Monday lunchtime wearing black shorts. He's a shorts-in-all-seasons operator. And so on this day, as like most others, his prosthetic right leg is in full view. Sat on a couch in the hotel lobby, he straightens out his microprocessor prosthetic leg and goes through its various components. Inside is a computer, sensors, and a gyro to help him balance and ensure the leg knows where the leg is at all times. Basically, a bionic leg, he says by way of explanation, simplification, and abbreviation. The model he wears allows him to live an able-bodied life. The model he wears carries a shelf life of up to nine years, depending on how active the user is. O'Donnell was fitted for his first microprocessor prosthetic leg - an older version of his present attachment - following amputation in August 2018. That leg began to break down and reach its expiry date on the run into the Paris Games. The timing couldn't have been worse. Having had the amputation in London, the relevant EU agreement for receiving treatment abroad meant his parents didn't have to fork out for his first prosthetic. The Irish system is not as generous. Instead of exclusive focus on the final leg of his Paris representations, he was now burdened with having to find €67,000 down the back of the sofa to cover a new prosthetic leg. The burden was so pronounced that he buried the issue until after the Paralympics. Not before, mind, it had left a mark both physically and mentally. 'In my seven years as an amputee, this was the first time I had to think about getting a prosthetic. I went for a meeting with my prosthetic team and they told me you have to figure out how you're going to come up with the €60-70,000. I remember somebody in the health system saying I was lucky I'm only missing one leg as it would be twice the cost if you were missing both. I found that mindset absolutely nuts,' says Tiarnán. 'My leg was broken pre-Paris, but I managed to get through Paris with it. Pre-Paris, it was causing me injuries. I was getting injuries in the boat because of how poorly I was walking because my prosthetic wasn't. 'But I didn't have €67,000 to spend pre-Paris to replace it. And I couldn't go with a less functional prosthetic because I would have to completely relearn how to walk. I had all of that stress going into Paris. 'And then I got home from Paris, on a high at being a part of the Paralympic movement and realising a peak moment in my life which was to represent Ireland on the biggest stage, to one week post-Games not being able to leave my house because my prosthetic wouldn't work. 'Coming back from the airport, I couldn't even carry my own bags. It was that bad. My knee would either buckle from underneath me or lock up and I'd trip. I was a walking hazard.' His parents, Paddy and Neasa, told their son they'd take out a loan to fund the new prosthetic. Tiarnán, though, was determined not to be a financial drain on his family. Not at 26. Before and after he and mixed double sculls partner Katie O'Brien rowed down the Vaires-sur-Marne to an eighth-place finish, Tiarnán shook a lot of important hands. A lot of Government Ministers told him they couldn't wait to provide support all the way through to LA 2028. But in the weeks after Paris and with no more photo opportunities, Tiarnán didn't feel at all supported. And so on October 8, he posted an Instagram story calling out the political class. His message to them didn't hesitate in getting to the point. 'I basically said, I'm home from Paris, stuck in my bedroom and can't do anything. I want to start my journey to LA and I want to live a normal life, so something has got to change.' His Instagram inbox immediately blew up. Sport Ireland weren't far behind in stepping in to cover the cost of the new prosthetic. 'I was in almost disbelief that somebody had decided they're going to take this weight off my shoulders. But five minutes later, I was infuriated because this is what amputees have been experiencing their whole lives, whereas this was my first time experiencing that dread and hopelessness of sitting in my bedroom not able to walk, and only because of who I am I got looked after. Elation to anger.' The HSE provides prosthetics free of charge to eligible amputees such as medical card holders and people on the long-term illness scheme. Those that don't must find and hand over €15,000 for the most basic-standard mechanical limb. 16 November 2024; Sean Codd from Glasnevin, Dublin, right, meets Paralympian Tiarnán O'Donnell during the PTSB NextGen Community Series at the National Indoor Arena on the Sport Ireland Campus in Dublin. Pic Seb Daly/Sportsfile O'Donnell has heard of amputees not taking work promotions because the increased wage would disqualify them from medical card eligibility and, consequently, prosthetic cover. Accessibility is one half of the problem. The quality of prosthetics available in this country he describes as 'pre-historic'. 'The prosthetics available in Ireland are just metal joints. People manage with them, but they have no real functionality. They're almost like, and there is no polite way of saying this, a peg leg, a fixed leg. 'They can walk up the stairs, but it is a case of leading with your good foot and then dragging your bad foot up. If someone with a prosthetic is walking down a hill that isn't a microprocessor knee, they essentially fall down that hill, whereas when I put weight through the heel of my prosthetic, it adds resistance to naturally allow me walk step over step. 'There is no denying €67,000 is expensive, but because of this prosthetic, I'm not a burden to the health system, I am contributing to society and living a normal life. That is all people want to do. And if you give them this prosthetic, they're not on disability benefit, they're out in the workforce paying taxes, and on top of that they lead a normal social life so they're not slipping into issues with their mental health. 'My position in sport has given me the opportunity to access prosthetics that aren't available for other young people in Ireland. I visit schools with disabled kids, and I tell them, they can be just like me, they can do what I do. But I feel it is a white lie. It's like, you could, but only if you get the opportunities I get. That scares me. 'I don't need to worry about this issue if I'm being selfish. But nothing is going to change if I don't make some change.' Tiarnán did not require the platform afforded to him by dint of Paralympic involvement to seek change. His advocacy began many years before he ever pulled a green oar or captained the Irish U23 wheelchair basketball team to third-tier European bronze. During his first week at University of Limerick, he and a wheelchair-using friend were going to a lecture when his friend informed him he couldn't go this route as there were stairs further down the path. His friend told him he had to go a more circuitous route and would meet him at the front of the building. The inconvenience and unfairness prompted Tiarnán to contact college authorities and volunteer himself as the student disability representative. During his third-year work placement at the Galway base of Boston Scientific, it dawned on him that the route he and his colleagues took every day to get coffee on-site was not doable for a wheelchair-employee. The company's sole two disability car park spaces were for guests. Again, he spoke up. Within a week, four wheelchair spaces were created. An elevator was constructed to ensure the stairs en-route to coffee no longer acted as a roadblock. 'They were like, 'we'll sort that, no problem, we just didn't realise this was an issue'. That lift will ensure other people with a disability don't have a different experience to me. Everywhere I go, I have these goggles on. I'm able to see things others don't. I don't think it is ignorance, it is just not knowing.' *** At the age of five, Tiarnán came in the door limping from a school sports day. Subsequent investigation found a vascular anomaly in his leg. The diagnosis arrived shortly after older brother Ronan had emerged from the woods following a six-year fight of his own. A rare arteriovenous malformation in the brain meant Ronan was 'on death's door until the age of five or six'. Paddy, Neasa, and their four boys returned to hospital for a second saga. Tiarnán's fight would run for 14 years. Repeated operations every nine months to lengthen and straighten his leg. Three weeks post-op and he was again at square one. Twenty-something operations in total. The toll on a child to endure such surgical overload for no progress at all. A mother's intuition. They always know. She requested fresh scans and had them sent across the Atlantic. This boy from Limerick was the 16th person in the world to be diagnosed with fibroadipose vascular anomaly. A month before his Leaving Cert year at Castletroy College, he underwent surgery to remove a large chunk of tumour from his calf. A high-risk surgery. Those cutting into him damaged a nerve and paralysed him from the knee down. 'The leg was paralysed but I was still in the most incredible pain. It felt like I was getting electrocuted in the leg all of the time.' His Leaving Cert diet was not Irish, English, Maths, Engineering. His Leaving Cert diet was ketamine, morphine infusions, tramadol, oxycodone, and amitriptyline. An opioid diet no 18-year-old should have to endure. His six-foot frame disappeared. His weight dropped to 48kg. There's a chocolate granola from Lidl he can no longer go near. Even a whiff makes him queasy. It was his breakfast of choice Leaving Cert year. The cocktail of drugs he was consuming meant it was a breakfast that would come straight back up. 'I was going to school completely doped up just so I could function and sit in class. Even at that, I couldn't concentrate because I was still in so much pain and so out of it from the medication. 'I am a sixth-year student trying to study and be a normal teenager, but even though I knew it wasn't normal, I just got on with it. I actually tried to hide it from my friends. "I remember one day on the way to afterschool study, I had to run to the bathroom. My friend came in with me to see if I was okay and I got sick in front of him. This shame came over me. I was like, 'fuck, now he knows I'm sick because I let the mask slip'. Of course they knew, but it is only now I realise how much I was struggling back then.' A week before his Leaving Cert, he was studying maths equations whilst paralysed from the chest down after receiving an epidural in the latest attempt to suffocate the pain. His points total was skewed by a most trying year. He received his 10th and final choice. A far more important choice was in front of him. 'Pre-Christmas in first year of college, I decided on amputation. Everything I went through forced me to grow up quickly. The amputation came at such an amazing time in my life because for the first time I took control of my disability. I went to my parents and said, 'I can't do this anymore'.' We are chatting the day before he flies out to Lucerne for this weekend's Rowing World Cup. He pulled gold in the most recent World Cup event in Italy. That was as a single. There's no single sculls on the Lucerne menu, or LA menu for that matter. With regular mixed partner Katie O'Brien sidelined, he'll partner West Cork's Sadhbh Ní Laoghaire. We're over an hour in the lobby. The latte is cold, the conversation has moved to tattoos. Hidden under his sleeve is SISU. Grit and determination in the face of adversity. The ink is inspired by his 21-year-old cousin Elliott. Elliott lives with the terminal illness Duchenne muscular dystrophy. 'He has every reason in the world to complain, but doesn't. Even in the depths of my struggling, I was like, if Elliott doesn't complain then who am I to complain.' Back to hospital. The last face he saw before amputation was his mother's. The tears rolled down her cheeks. 'I told her, no, this is a time to smile. I am finally going to have a quality of life. This is the start. Went into it smiling and have been smiling ever since.'
The Star
22-06-2025
- Sport
- The Star
Liek Hou battles pain to regain Asian singles title after 13 years
From left Cheah Liek Hou, coach Nova Armada and Fareez Anuar. PETALING JAYA: Para shuttler Cheah Liek Hou (pic) shows no signs of slowing down after bagging two golds in the Asian Para Badminton Championships. The 37-year-old fought hard to beat Indonesian arch-rival Dheva Anrimusthi 21-19, 15-21, 21-18 in the men's singles SU5 (upper body impairment) final in Korat yesterday. In the semi-finals, Liek Hou defeated Suryo Nugroho of Indonesia 21-12, 17-21, 11-8 (rtd). 'After nine months, I'm meeting these Indonesian players again just like at the Paris Paralympics, and I'm glad that I defeated them although I'm not physically at my best,' said the Paris Paralympics champion, who is carrying a leg injury. 'It was quite tough for me, and I still feel the pain in my leg after winning here. I will come back home and get it treated.' It was the Liek Hou's fourth gold in the singles in the Asian meet after also triumphing in 2004, 2008 and 2012. He was a bronze medal winner at the 2016 edition in Beijing. The two-time Paralympic gold medallist then teamed up with Fareez Anuar to easily come out on top over India's Hardik Makkar-Ruthick Ragupathi 21-14, 21-8 for the men's doubles SU5 title. Fareez settled for a bronze in the singles after going down 18-21, 9-21 to Dheva in the last four a day earlier.
The Hindu
22-06-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
Indian shuttlers bag 27 medals to register best-ever showing at Asian Para-Badminton Championship
Indian shuttlers won 27 medals at the Asian Para-Badminton Championship 2025 in Thailand, resulting in the country's best-ever performance at the event. The tournament took place between June 17 and 22 at the SPADT Convention Center. India's haul included four gold medals, 10 silver medals, and 13 bronze medals. Among the medallists were Paris Paralympics gold medallist Nitesh Kumar, Paris Paralympics silver medallist Thulasimathi Murugesan, and Paris Paralympics bronze medallist Manisha Ramadass. India medallists at Asian Para-Badminton Championship 2025 Gold Medallists 1. Nitesh Kumar MS SL3 2. Nitesh Kumar & Thulasimathi Murugesan XD SL3-SU5 3. Manisha Ramadass WS SU5 4. Nitesh Kumar & Sukant Kadam MD SL3-SL4 Silver Medallists 1. Krishna Nagar & Nithya XD SH6 2. Mandeep Kaur WS-SL3 3. Palak Kohli WS- SL4 4. Ruthick Raghupati & Manasi Joshi XD SL3-SU5 5. Nithya Sre WS-SH6 6. Nithya Sre & Rachna Patel WD-SH6 7. Suryakant Yadav MS-SL4 8. Jagdish Dilli & Naveen Shivakumar MD SL3-SL4 9. Ruthick Raghupati & Hardik Makkar MD-SU5 10. Manasi Joshi & Thulasimathi Murugesan WD SL3-SU5 Bronze Medallists 1. Manasi Joshi- WS SL3 2. Naveen Shivakumar - MS SL4 3. Abhijeet Sakhuja & Arbaz Ansari MD SL3 -SL4 4. Umesh Vikaram Kumar - MS SL3 5. Prem Ale & Abu Hubaida MD - WH1-WH2 6. Alphia James & Pallavi Kaluvehalli M - WD WH1-WH2 7. Thulasimathi Murugesan - WS SU5 8. Krishna Nagar - MS SH-6 9. Krishna Nagar & D Pandurangan, MD- SH6 10. Chirag Baretha & Mandeep Kaur XD SL3-SU5 11. Chirag Baretha & Rajkumar MD SU5 12. Alphia james WS-WH2 13. Manisha & Mandeep WD SL3-SU5
