Meet Aditya Mehta, the first Indian para-cyclist to win a medal at the Asian Paralympics

(September 30, 2023) At age 24, Aditya Mehta narrowly dodged death but ended up losing his leg after being run over by a bus. The road to recovery was long, hard and painful for the budding entrepreneur. People who visited him would pity him, leaving him even more frustrated. But his indomitable will wouldn’t allow him to go down. Aditya pulled himself together, took to para-cycling with a prosthetic leg and went on to become India’s first para-cyclist to bag a medal at the Asian Paralympics. “So far, I have cycled 40,000 kms and won two silver medals at Asian Championship. My goal now is to coach youngsters get medals for India in Paralympic Games,” smiles Aditya Mehta, in conversation with Global Indian.

Mehta headed the contingent in the para-cycling world championships in Glasgow, Scotland, recently. “As a coach, it was a fulfilling experience as three of my trainees created history by qualifying for Paralympics 2024,” says Aditya of the event. It was the first time that Sports Authority of India (SAI) supported the para-cyclist contingent in a world championship.

Aditya Mehta

Teething troubles

Born in Hyderabad, Aditya grew up in a joint family, along with 18 first cousins. He hated studies, argued with his parents and often got in trouble at home and in school for his reckless behaviour. “I was a difficult child. When I was in the fifth grade, I failed in my Telugu exam, and was very scared of my father. I stole my mother’s earrings, sold them for some money and travelled all the way to Goa. Then I called up my parents to come pick me up,” recalls the most accomplished para-cyclist in the country who gave up schooling when he was in class 9. Eventually, Aditya realised that he was looked upon as a failure. “Everyone had a terrible opinion of me, especially in the family. It hurt.”

By the time he turned 16, he decided to prove himself and wanted to start a textile business with a few friends. His family didn’t support the idea. “I knew my father didn’t trust me,” says Aditya, who then started travelling from town-to-town selling garments. Slowly, his family began to take note of his perseverance. “My grandfather and my mother eventually supported me with minimal funding” says Aditya. One year later, he turned the modest Rs 30,000 investment into a turnover of Rs 1.5 crore. Unfortunately, his rough patch wasn’t over – he found out that some friends had been siphoning off crores from the company account. Aditya started from scratch again and set up a successful business exporting garments. By the age of 22, Aditya was financially independent and his family was happy.

Tragedy Strikes

Aditya’s life changed after his return from a business trip to Hong Kong in August 2017. “I left home on my bike to meet my stockist. Suddenly, a bus hit my bike twice from the rear. I fell down, got dragged for almost 300 metres. The bus crushed my right leg,” he recalls.

Aditya lay motionless on the road. “Strangely, no one came forward to help me. I regained consciousness and dragged myself away from the bus. The pain was excruciating.” A store-owner who knew Aditya happened to pass by and took him to the hospital. His parents were shattered.

Once the treatment began, doctors amputated Aditya’s leg above the knee. “Every alternate day, the wound would be dressed without pain killers. I would scream in agony,” says Aditya, who was on bed rest for nearly two months thereafter.

As he began recovering, the entrepreneur tried hard to keep his dream alive and expand his business. One year after the accident, he left for South Africa on a business meeting. “My leg would bleed every single day of the trip and I would have to change the dressing frequently,” says the 40-year-old.

Confronted with the reality of the situation, he finally had to accept that moving around wasn’t easy any more. “With a heavy heart, I closed down the business.”

Fighting back

Aditya returned to India and tried a prosthetic leg. It took him about seven months to learn to walk with it. “I would fall down often. Several times, out of sheer frustration, I would just lie on the floor. I hated that situation,” he says.

His father helped him see things from a different perspective. “He would tell me that I needed to think like a child. Children don’t complain when they try learning to walk. When they fall, they just get up again. These words really helped me. My parents supported me through everything,” smiles Aditya.

Eventually, he began walking up to a kilometre. Slowly, he increased it to five and then 10 kms. Thereafter, he started swimming and joined an academy in Pune. Around that time, he came across a hoarding of local cycling club. “The picture I saw on it was a glaring reminder of my limitations. I started to reminisce about the days in school when I had the best cycle in class. The thought that I couldn’t ride anymore was too hard to bear.”

One day, Aditya borrowed his cousin’s cycle and made an attempt to ride with one leg. “My father supported me and said I should give it a shot.” I rode for about a kilometre after falling five times. Every fall made me stronger and I just kept going,” he says. Aditya decided then that he would be a professional cyclist. He trained hard, pushing through all the discomfort.

Almost six years later, he rode from London to Paris and climbed 9000 feet. He then cycled solo from Kashmir to Kanyakumari in 2013. His name entered the Limca Book of Records not once, but twice. “I become the first amputee cyclist to complete a 100 km ride in 5.5 hours. Now, I can even do it in 4-4.5 hours. Hitting this record was a turning point in my life. I knew that I could do everything I wanted to,” says Aditya, who won two silver medals at Asian championship.

The most challenging experience at the Asian championship in Delhi was when his artificial leg came out and got stuck in the pokes of the front wheel just days ahead of the championship. “I had a bad fall and got injured. Despite that, I went ahead and participated. I won the silver medal.”

Aditya Mehta Foundation

After his wins, Aditya decided to support para athletes. In 2013, he launched Aditya Mehta Foundation. The aim was to help people like him win medals.

His foundation has helped more than 100 para-athletes. Help was also extended to about a 1,000 soldiers from the Border Security Force (BSF) and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), all of which are India’s paramilitary forces. “In all, we have trained nearly 7,000 people in 28 forms of para sports who have won 229 medals in different championships so far. All of them inspire me everyday.”

In 2020, Aditya and para-cyclists from the BSF went on a 3,801 km long cycling expedition in India, covering 35 cities in 41 days. His foundation raises funds through various events, scouts talent from among the disabled population in the country, trains and funds them to grow in sports.

Fitness

While Aditya has taken up coaching for para-cyclists in a big way, he sticks to his fitness schedule. “Nutrition and conditioning are essential and I follow them religiously,” informs the ace para-cyclist, who is up at 4 am everyday to start training. He trains for almost five days a week and makes it a point to hit the gym in between.

Future plans

Aditya is presently busy coaching. “We are training hard for the Paralympics 2024 in France. I’m also training the children who were identified at the grassroots level for various state, national and international competitions.”

Aditya loves taking long cycle rides whenever he get time. “My top hobby is cycling,” says the para-cyclist, who says his biggest inspiration is his father. “I am able to live confidently today because of my parents. Coming from a business family, where the goal is just to earn money, I am able to do my bit for my extended family (his trainees) due to my parents support,” he adds.

• You can follow Aditya’s work on his website.