Hyderabad, November 16th, 2019: Aditya Mehta Foundation (AMF), a non¬profit organization that aids people with disabilities to pursue sports while providing self-sustenance, launched the state-of-the-art, 'Infinity Para-Sports Academy & Rehab Center', a first of its kind charitable National para-sports rehabilitation and training academy in Asia, on Saturday at Shreeji Mehta Apartments, Begumpet. The facility was inaugurated by the Chief Guest Dr SK Joshi, IAS, Chief Secretary, Govt. of Telangana; in the presence of Mr Aditya Mehta, founder of the Aditya Mehta Foundation.
Also present were Guests of Honour Shri KK Sharma, IPS, EX DG BSF; Shri Aditya Mishra, IPS, Chairman, Land Ports Authority of India; Smt Anjani Sinha, IPS, Director NISA, CISF; Shri Dinakar Babu, IAS, MD, Sports Auhtority of Telangana; Shri MR. Naik, IPS, IGP, CRPF Southern Sector; Dr Tarun Joshi, IPS, Jt. Commisioner of Police, Hyderabad; Ms Lakshmi Manchu, Film Producer and Actress & Dr. G. Kishore, Regional Director, SAI centre. AMF Trustees present were Shri K Durga Prasad, IPS, EX DG CRPF; Ms. Shilpa Reddy, Former Mrs. India; Shri Shobhu Yarlagadda, CEO, M/s ARKA Media Works- Producer Baahubali; Smt. Vanita Datla, VC & MD, Elico Ltd. and Shri JK Mehta, Managing Trustee, AMF.
The Academy situated at Begumpet in the heart of Hyderabad, on a 5,000 square yard area, provided by AMF Joint Managing Trustee, Mr. J. K. Mehta, is equipped with most of the infrastructure needed for each para-sport. The Academy is a charitable trust and will initially extend rehabilitation service followed by screening for the para-sports for persons with disability. Subsequently it will provide accommodation and food along with the basics to professional para-sports training at the boarding Academy.
“To help my own extended family of para-athletes, I always wanted to establish an academy and rehabilitation centre so that people with disabilities have a future in sports. Finally this dream has come true” says Aditya Mehta, the founder of the Aditya Mehta Foundation.
The foundation will be training Divyaangans from across the nation including CAPF and civilians from basic level in 15 para-sports in the Academy: Para Cycling, Para Archery, Para Shooting, Para skating, Para power lifting, Rowing and Canoeing, Para judo, Para Badminton, Para boccia, Para table tennis, Para volley ball, Para triathlon, Para Athletics, Para Swimming.
About Aditya Mehta Foundation
Aditya Mehta Foundation (AMF since 2013) is a non¬profit organization which aids people with disabilities to pursue sports while providing self-sustenance. AMF aims to help the Para athletes reach their potential in their chosen field of sports and have a self-sustaining life.
The founder of the organization, Aditya Mehta comes from a business family. He met with an unfortunate accident during which his right leg has been amputated below the knee. This changed his perspective to life. To overcome the incident, he made cycling his passion and won two Silver medals in the Asian Para Cycling Championship. Aditya completed 100 km bicycling in 3hr 3min 40sec in 2015, making it the best time by far in Limca Book of Records. Aditya currently holds five Limca Records.
AMF provides all support including equipment, coaching, financial aid, counseling etc. to help them pursue sports to instil independence, rehabilitate them and reinstall them into society. Border Security Force(BSF) was the first para¬military force to get associated with us and provide tremendous their support. AMF is now proudly associated with Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Indo¬Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP).We have helped more than a 180 Para athletes with various equipment like wheelchairs, artificial limbs, etc. and also financial assistance to overcome their disabilities and live their life with dignity through sports. The Para athletes of the extended family of Aditya Mehta Foundation have so far won around 85 medals in various sports at Internationals.
In a short span, AMF successfully counselled more than 900 officials from para¬military forces and inspired more than quarter of them to take up sports. As a follow up to this, we conducted a National Divyaang Sports Training Camp twice in association with BSF, which was the first one of its kind for amputated persons of CAPF and other civilians. The participants were trained in various Para sports by National Champions. This helped them overcome their mental blockage and gave them a ray of hope. We plan to conduct similar training camps at least twice every year to train a larger number of Para athletes.
Our foundation organizes a signature ride every year, The Infinity Ride, which is the major fund raising event of ours. In 2015, we rode from Bangalore to Hyderabad with about 100 participants in association with Border Security Force. We ended this event on a grand scale with Shri Lokesh Nara and NTR Trust’s support. In 2016, it was a 10-day cycling expedition from Manali to Khardung la which saw a participation of more than a dozen amputees along with other riders. Among them were the Para cyclists from the National Training Camp. The riders were flagged off by Shri Acharya Dev Vrat, Governor Himachal Pradesh and flagged in by Shri KirenRijiju, MoS for Home Affairs. This event was held in association with Border Security Force and other CAPF. We were further supported by celebrities like Shriya Saran, Regina Cassandra, Rana Daggubati, Nani and many other Tollywood actors and actresses.
Some of our other highly appreciated rides are Dehradun to Mana Village flagged off by DGP, Uttarakhand, Shri A.K. Raturi, Shimla to Manali flagged off by DGP Himachal Pradesh Shri Mardi, IPS and flagged in by Shri KirenRijiju, MoS for Home Affairs, Attari to Delhi , flagged off by Shri V P Singh Badnore, Governor of Punjab at Attari; Delhi to Mumbai , flagged off by Shri Kishan Pal Gurjar, MoS, Social Justice and Empowerment ; Bangalore to Hyderabad, flagged in by Shri Nara Lokesh, Cabinet Minister for Information & Technology A.P and Kashmir to Kanyakumari, flagged off by Shri P S Sandhu, I.G., BSF at Srinagar
For the first time in Asia, we have also held a Winter para-games in Auli, Uttarakhand where we introduced people with disabilities to the above 6 winter sports.
We have conducted about nine presentation and felicitation ceremonies to present the Para athletes with various orthotics and also to acknowledge their efforts. The number of lives that AMF has touched so far is innumerable.
Future aspects
With a team of these Para athletes who have World No.1 to 20 ranking and also others who have been shortlisted for training, we look forward to receiving world best ranking in Internationals and make India a super power in Paralympics 2024.
