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spheres in which physical strength is considered to be the most important factor, then it can be safely assumed that they can shine out like bright stars in other spheres too.
At present more than ten per cent of the total population of the world is suffering from some physical disability or the other. In India alone there are more than seventy million people who are either blind, deaf or suffer some other physical disadvantage. Every year, nearly fifty thousand people are added to this category due to poverty, ignorance, bigotry, superstition or some kind of deficiency at the time of birth. In Gujarat, the number is about one million. Every year, the third Sunday of March is celebrated as 'World Handicapped Day'. On this day games and sports competitions are held exclusively for these people all over the world, to prove thereby that they are really not helpless at all. On the contrary, they are an active segment of society, which is full of vigour and vitality.
Nevertheless in the sphere of games and sports, people who are physically challenged have added pomp and splendour by dint of their strong willpower and the force of their determination. The main thrust of the Olympic Games is not on achieving victory but on participating in the games with a buoyant human spirit. In the same way, true success in life does not lie in conquering something but in facing difficulties with a fighting spirit.
The success stories included in this book and more particularly the details of the determined fight with which they successfully overpowered their physical limitations have been narrated on the basis of personal interviews that were conducted with each one of them. Similarly, sincere attempts have been made to introduce as much variety as possible by the inclusion of the achievements of physically challenged or
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