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The Brave Hearts
with the help of his leg and then start writing on it. In the course of time, Chandu started writing with speed. The onlookers would be amazed to see him write like this and that too with speed.
After two years, he joined a school. He had resolved to study and educate himself. He enrolled himself in standard VII. He may not have had hands, but he had strong will and a strong craving. He may not have had fingers, but his enthusiasm was enormous and matchless. In the course of time, he started taking part in extra-curricular activities of the school and was elected the leader of the Student's Representative Council. He also started playing a few games and would participate in sports competitions. Initially he could not participate in sprint events because an absence of hands would obstruct his efforts to build up speed. To overcome this difficulty, Chandu started practicing more and more. He trained himself in the art of running and gradually started picking up speed. In this too, his willpower and determination came to his rescue.
On 9th March 1973, a sports meet, especially for the physically challenge from Maharashtra and Gujarat, was organised at the Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai. It included a 100 meters sprint event also. Chandu was one of the competitors. In the initial race three runners established a lead over others, one from Maharashtra aged 25, another also from the same state but aged 18 and the third was Chandulal Tarachand Bhati from Gujarat aged 15, in that order. In the final few meters, Chandu overpowered the others and won the first position and the gold medal. In the long jump event Chandu secured a bronze medal. Thus in the very first interstate meet in which Chandu had participated, he brought glory to Gujarat by winning one gold and one bronze medal.
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