“Sports provides a spirit of brotherhood, teamwork, and unity that no disability can take away, the same spirit lies in the core and motto of the Indian Wheelchair Cricket Team who are conquering their disability through the ability of cricket and showing the world that disabled people can achieve the same feat as their abled counterparts, if provided with adequate support and respect from the society.”
The Wheelchair Cricket India Association (W.C.I.A.) is the pioneer association & the apex body of the country to promote and provide a platform for young wheelchair bound sportsmen who wish to engage and play cricket from the beginning to the excellence level. W.C.I.A. has the credit to make the 1st Indian Wheelchair Cricket Team.
Wheelchair Cricket India Association (W.C.I.A.) is a Non-Profit registered organisation working under the legal framework of the country. W.C.I.A. is also a 12A/80G Approved Organisation. It was established with the objective of providing rehabilitation to persons using wheelchairs at the initial level, not only to introduce them to the competitive sport but also to include them in mainstream society. Today W.C.I.A. has 19 State Associations affiliated to itself to manage its program through the country.
Throughout its development, the association has remained faithful to its principles which are Equal rights of PWDs, specially Wheelchair Users, to lead independent lives, free from discrimination.
FOREWORD BY FOUNDER/PRESIDENT
SQN LDR ABHAI PRATAP SINGH (RETD.)
Disability doesn't mean disqualification from having access to every aspect of life. When I came on to Wheelchair after a road accident, I was shattered. Being a fighter Pilot, the road ahead looked gloomy. But I was lucky to have access to other Wheelchair Users from military background at Paraplegic Rehab Centre, Kirkee, Pune. I was exposed to Wheelchair Sports & other activities which veterans were engaged in day to day life. This exposure made my rehabilitation to Wheelchair life relatively easy. But not everybody is this lucky. This encouraged me to start a rehabilitation centre on similar lines where just by spending time with veteran Wheelchair Users, people will learn not only Wheelchair Skills but also gain confidence to survive in a cruel world and be part of society and lead a Life with dignity.
Wheelchair Cricket is a sport that not only gives Wheelchair Users, a chance to
play India’s most popular sport-Cricket, but also unifies Wheelchair users from all over India. It almost solves the purpose of a large rehabilitation facility. Not to forget, it is a sport that has the power to move the masses. In India Cricket is a religion: a religion that is followed by many. Due to its popularity and pan India access, we have chosen cricket as our main sport. It is relatively easier to mobilise people for the sport of Cricket than any other sport or activity. People from all sections of the society have an inclination to play Cricket and even Divyangs are not untouched by this desire.
Also a wheelchair is a visible symbol of disability that can easily attract the attention of the masses. A group of Wheelchair Users moving freely in a society gives the positive image of society and increases the Human Development Index of that society. It has been a great source of sensitisation of society towards Disability till now.
In 2015, a few young men from Uttar Pradesh initiated the idea to form a Wheelchair Cricket Team and approached a few local social organisations. Finally, with the help of some social organisations engaged in disability rights, a National Level Tournament was conducted by Uttar Pradesh Wheelchair Cricketers in June 2016 with 3 teams- Uttar Pradesh, Delhi & Punjab, participating in the tournament at Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh.
Wheelchair Cricket India Association (W.C.I.A.) came into being after complaints from players of mismanagement & exploitation by the social organisation on the behest of Wheelchair Matches. Players were asked to deposit funds before every match for conducting matches. Some organisations took the money but did not even conduct matches. As most of the players came from poor socio-economic backgrounds, they started resisting participation in Wheelchair Cricket and either dropped out or deviated towards other sports. While the objective of sports is to increase the self-confidence of an individual so that he/she can face the hardships of life with ease, things were going in the opposite direction here. This was when players decided to form their own association & under the able leadership of Sqn Ldr Abhai Pratap Singh (Retd.), W.C.I.A. came into being.
In July 2016, an exhibition match was conducted in Lucknow between UP & Delhi Teams. As Chief Guest Padmashree & Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratan Awardee & India’s First Female Silver Medalist Paralympian, Mrs. Deepa Malik was present to grace the occasion. This was the first proper showcasing of Wheelchair Cricket.
Historically, people with disabilities have been a socially and economically disadvantaged segment of society. Researchers even coined the term ‘‘Disability Ghetto’’ to describe this marginalization, manifested in discrimination and socio-cultural limitations, and further perpetuated by a lower rate of employment among individuals with disabilities. While employment on its own has its obvious advantages, financial and otherwise, interestingly, separate studies have found that both adaptive sport and employment have provided large quality of life benefits to people with disabilities.
No rehabilitation is complete till a person is employed or is financially independent but it has been observed that participating in adaptive sports increase chances of employment due to various reasons. Studies have found a positive relationship between athletic participation and labour market outcomes for the able bodied population, and suggest many potential mechanisms whereby athletics lead to higher educational attainment, employment and/or wages. First, increased physical fitness levels could directly translate to increased productivity for those individuals. Second, sports provide social networking opportunities, especially for those with smaller social networks, such as people from rural background or tribal areas.
Third, athletic participation may signal to employers that the individual is motivated and in good health, making them more appealing and competitive candidates in the job market. Similarly, Sport can benefit almost every aspect of the life of a person with a disability. The benefits include but are not limited to increased self-esteem, strength and endurance, social integration, physical independence and life satisfaction. Though adaptive sports has gained quite a momentum in developed nations, in developing nations like India barriers to playing adaptive sport can be daunting. Adaptive sport participation is limited by obstacles, such as a lack of accessibility in sport facilities, dislike of sports commonly associated with disability, physical dependence making practice difficult and limited time and money.
The costs associated with adaptive sports include specialized wheelchairs and travel to compete against other teams. Athletes also incur at least some expenses out of pocket. Proper funding for adaptive sport programs could alleviate many of these barriers. Increased participation in adaptive sport would provide benefits at the individual level as well as the societal level. To give a sense of the potential aggregate economic impact of regular participation in adaptive sports, if an additional 100000 individuals were to play adaptive sports for only one year, we estimate that approximately 3000 of them would become employed.
Sqn Ldr Abhai Pratap Singh (Retd.)
Founder & President, Wheelchair Cricket India Association(WCIA)
Joint Secretary, Differently-Abled Cricket Council Of India(DCCI)
Mentor, Indian Wheelchair Cricket Team
Squadron Leader (Retd.) Indian Air Force
Sqn Ldr Abhai Pratap Singh (Retd.), a warrior who did not compromised on his dreams even after the continuous hurdles that he faced.
He joined Indian Air Force in 2000, served the country, and flew air crafts like Mig-21 & Mig-27. After meeting with an accident in 2007, his lower body got paralysed. That was the turning point or rather a climax of his life. People got very judgemental with that and thought that it was the end. In 2009 on medical grounds, he took retirement from the Indian Air Force.
And that was his move towards a new chapter in his life. Life does not get better by chance and Retired Sqn Ldr Abhai Pratap Singh’s life is an example of the same.
He started Accessibility Awareness and Disability Advocacy in the year 2010, discovering himself as an entrepreneur.
WCIA came into being after the complaints from the players, of mismanagement and exploitation by the social organization on the behest of conducting matches. Players were asked to deposit funds before every match for the conduct of matches. Since most of the players came from poor socio-economic backgrounds, they started to resist participating in wheelchair cricket, some either dropped out or deviated towards other sports. It was a must for some genuine people who actually understood the problems of wheelchair users to take the lead. So the players decided to form their own organization with a few players themselves being part of the organization along with other concerned people who were either parents of wheelchair users or genuine social workers working for wheelchair users or cricketers.
Then in July 2016, an exhibition match was conducted in Lucknow between UP & Delhi Teams under the banner of CII YI with support from corporations like Mahendra’s and Tata motors. This was the first proper showcasing of Wheelchair Cricket on the National Level as few National Dailies covered the event. Uttar Pradesh Wheelchair Cricket Association came into being soon after under the leadership of Sqn Ldr Abhai Pratap Singh (Retd.)
Then in 2017, he founded Uttar Pradesh Wheelchair Cricket Association and played a major role in the formation of State Associations. He won India’s First National Wheelchair Cricket Tournament & Indian Wheelchair Cricket League, which was a motivation to many.
In May 2018 he won against Bangladesh in the India-Bangladesh series by 2-0 which was held in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Took retirement from India Wheelchair Cricket Team in July 2018, later in September Indian Wheelchair Cricket Team won India-Pakistan Bilateral series by 3-0 which was held in Dubai & Azman, UAE.
Since 2019 he is serving as the CEO of the Wheelchair Cricket India Association.
He initiated communication with the Board of Cricket Council of India(B.C.C.I) along with Mr. Ravi Chauhan, President, Physically Challenged Cricket Association of India(P.C.C.A.I) for the recognition of WCIA & setting up a road-map for Disability Cricket in India.
Gradually, more than 10 State Associations were formed taking the number to 22. 2nd National Wheelchair Cricket Championship was successfully organized in which 16 states participated with more than 200 professional Wheelchair Cricketers.
He also organized Tri-National Series(Nepal-Bangladesh-India) in Kolkata.
Then in 2020, due to covid, all the WCIA activities were moved to online platforms. He organized Accessibility Awareness Workshops, Motivational Talks, and Wheelchair Skill Development Program.
He also organized online training for Wheelchair Cricketers by BCCI certified Level-B & Level-C Coaches.
Later in 2021, after the talks, BCCI took the initiative to form the Differently-Abled Cricket Council of India, which was under an umbrella body of four associations namely Wheelchair Cricket India Association(W.C.I.A), Physically Challenged Cricket Association of India(P.C.C.A.I), Indian Deaf Cricket Association(I.D.C.A) & Cricket Association for the Blind in India(C.A.B.I)
Somjeet Singh, Captain of the Indian Wheelchair Cricket Team, belongs to Lucknow.
Born on 5 July 1996 in Orai, UP.
His journey started in 2014 when he started playing Wheelchair Cricket with some wheelchair users in Lucknow. Gradually with the help of social media, he gathered more wheelchair players from Uttar Pradesh and the rest of India. Then with the help of an NGO and a few concerned individuals, he managed to get a match organized between the players of Uttar Pradesh and the rest of India on 3rd December in Prayagraj. Which became the first-ever recorded Wheelchair Cricket Match in India.
He played certain matches in 2016 for which the organizers at times asked for money to organize the match. And there were times that they didn’t conduct matches even after taking the money. Somjeet initially resisted but later on succumbed to their demands due to his love for the game but as soon as he realized that this is not going to lead him and his team anywhere, he took a step back.
Playing was different but handling a large number of wheelchair users with different degrees of disabilities was a risky proposition. Some players did not even have bladder and bowel control and were prone to infections in unhygienic conditions. Being a paraplegic himself he knew the problems of wheelchair users more than anybody else. But Somjeet kept motivating them to form an association.
After all its efforts, finally, in May 2017, Uttar Pradesh Wheelchair Cricket Association was formed under Sqn Ldr Abhai Pratap Singh as The CEO, President, providing support and funds for UP Wheelchair Team. Since then, there has been no looking back.
Somjeet has made some impeccable records of winning 8 out of 9 tournaments as Uttar Pradesh Captain and is the most scoring state team captain.
Somjeet is holding our head high as being the Captain of the Indian Wheelchair Cricket Team and winning all five international matches it has played against Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan too on foreign land.
Education Qualifications:
Cricket Achievements:
Wheelchair Cricket India
REG NO. - U74999UP2018NPL100302
Regd Add: 16A, GANESHPUR REHMANPUR,
Behind BMW Showroom, Chinhat, Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh)
