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The Sightless Wrestler
This is the story of a twelve year old lad who is studying at the Caesar Rodney High School in England as a merit scholar. His name is Edward Broadley. Being a scholar, he is very popular in the school. He is popular also because he is a wrestler. Yet the most surprising part of his story is that he is blind. That makes his true story unbelievable.
At the age of nine, he lost vision in both eyes. Right from his birth; he had a cataract in one eye. He subsequently lost its vision completely. He joined the Baltimore School for the blind. The Physical Education Head of the school introduced wrestling to the boy. The teacher explained to him all the niceties, merits and thrills of the game. Broadley was convinced and chose the game in preference to other options.
As is well known, in wrestling one has to play different moves. But for that one must know where the rival is standing and must also see and anticipate his moves. Being blind, that of course was not possible for Broadley. Despite this the boy did not get dejected. He was made from different stuff. On the contrary, he found a solution to the problem. At the start of the game, the boy would spread his hands horizontally and wait for the rival to make a move. The rival would naturally touch Broadley's hands. That was enough for Edward Boardley who would then pounce upon his opponent with full force.
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