Shot put
Sachin Khilari
- Silver, shot put F46, Paris 2024 Paralympics
- World Championship gold in Paris 2023 and Kobe 2024
- Gold at the 2023 Asian Para Games
“Colour badalna hai.”
Stories for the classroom
Let me do something, anything.
Sachin Khilari, aged nine, after being told to sit out every game. Now Paris 2024 Paralympic silver medallist.
RISE brings the stories of Indian Paralympians to students aged 10 to 14, through a book written from original interviews and a workshop built around it.
New athlete stories and workshop moments are shared on Instagram. Follow @rise.resilience.india
Five sports, six stories
Shot put
Javelin
Badminton
Swimming
Rifle shooting
The book
Living Histories
It began with a question: why do students who love sport not know these athletes? Each chapter follows one Paralympian from a turning point in their life to competing for India.
Every profile is drawn from original interviews, is written for readers aged 10 to 14, and ends with questions for discussion. The six athletes are all from Maharashtra and have represented India at the highest level.
- TitleLiving Histories: Stories of Maharashtra's Paralympians
- AuthorSharanya Kheruka
- PublisherWhite Falcon Publishing, 2026
- LanguagesEnglish and Hindi
- ReadersAges 10 to 14
- ChaptersSix athlete profiles
- Based onOriginal oral-history interviews
The athletes
Six chapters, six turning points
Each athlete speaks in their own words. A line from each chapter sits at the bottom of their card.
Javelin
Sandip Sargar
- World Champion, 2025, with a throw of 62.82 m
- World Para Athletics Grand Prix gold, Tunis 2022 and Dubai 2023
- Paris 2024 Paralympian
“Yeh wahi seedi thi jis se main aage nikla.”
Badminton
Sukant Kadam
- World Number One
- Paris 2024 Paralympian
- Medals at the Asian Para Games and World Championships
“Just give me ten days.”
Swimming
Suyash Jadhav
- Three Paralympic Games: Rio 2016, Tokyo and Paris 2024
- 2018 Asian Para Games: one gold and two bronze
- Arjuna Award, 2020
Rifle shooting
Swaroop Unhalkar
- Fourth at the Tokyo Paralympics, 0.3 points from a medal
- First para shooter from Maharashtra to win national medals and qualify internationally
“If you support me, I can win a medal for India.”
Shot put
Bhagyashri Jadhav
- Carried India's flag at Paris 2024, alongside Sumit Antil
- Silver at the 2022 Asian Para Games and the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships
“My country gave me such a big responsibility.”
Quotations and portrait illustrations are from the book. To follow India's para athletes, visit the Paralympic Committee of India.
The launch
The book at the send-off
Living Histories was launched at the Paralympic Committee of India's send-off ceremony for the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Para Games, on 8 October 2026 at ITC Maurya, New Delhi.
The ceremony was graced by the Hon'ble Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Dr Mansukh Mandaviya.
With the leaders of the Paralympic Committee of India
To follow India's para athletes and upcoming events, visit the Paralympic Committee of India.
More from the launch and the athletes' stories on Instagram: @rise.resilience.india
In the press
Coverage of the launch
The book and the send-off were covered in print and online.
Online report
Zee News
Book on Maharashtra's para-athletes wins praise from PCI chief Devendra Jhajharia. 16 October 2026.
Video
Video report on X
Broadcast clip from the send-off coverage, posted by Zee's Delhi-NCR-Haryana channel.
Press release
Distributed through ANI and PTI
Issued on 12 October 2026 and republished on these news sites. Press-release pages are supplied by the author's team, and the publishers are not responsible for their content.
ANIPTIBusiness StandardThe TribuneThePrintThe WireLokmat Times
Workshops
A 45 to 60 minute session
Not a reading of the book. A session that uses one athlete's story as material, then asks students to apply it to their own lives.
- Hook. One turning-point moment from an athlete's story.5 min
- Small-group discussion. Each group gets a different athlete and asks where they could have quit.15 min
- My next step. Students name a real obstacle and one small next step.15 min
- Share-back. Volunteers share what they wrote.10 min
- Close. The book goes home with students.5 min
For students aged 10 to 14. Sessions run in English, Hindi or Marathi. Schools and NGOs can also ask for the facilitator guide to run RISE themselves.
About
Why this exists
“What if, instead of asking, ‘Why is this happening to me?’ we asked, ‘What can I do next?’”Sharanya Kheruka, Living Histories
RISE was started by Sharanya Kheruka, a student in Mumbai and the author of Living Histories.
After a ligament tear in her ankle set back her sport, she attended a talk by a group of Paralympians. None of them spoke with bitterness. They spoke about the people who had helped them and the dreams they were still chasing. It changed how she saw her own setback: as a detour, not an ending.
She was surprised that so many of these athletes came from her own state, and that she had grown up in Mumbai without hearing their names. She wondered how many other students had not either. The book and these workshops are her answer.
Follow along
Follow the stories on Instagram
Athlete stories, workshop moments and updates on the book, shared as they happen.
Follow @rise.resilience.india instagram.com/rise.resilience.india