Hokato Sema: Sports has given me a chance to serve India again, something I thought I had lost after my injury in the Army

Winning a bronze medal in Men’s Shot Put F57 at the Paris Paralympics was the most important moment of my life. But some of the hardest lessons came afterwards.

What makes that medal even more special is how close I came to missing it. Just before the Games, I suffered a bout of dengue. As soon as I recovered, I caught chicken pox three days before flying out to Paris. I was so ill I couldn’t train at all after landing.

Honestly, I didn’t believe I would win a medal until the moment I stepped onto the field. Then, something shifted inside me — a voice told me I wasn’t going home without one. Despite being far from my best, I threw a Personal Best of 14.66m. That bronze medal proved to me that I could overcome physical limitations and still make my country proud.

When I returned from Paris, everything changed. Suddenly, I was being recognised everywhere, invited to events and honoured with the Arjuna Award. As the first athlete from Nagaland to win a Paralympic medal, the support was overwhelming. I’m a soldier in the Army, so my training expenses are taken care of, but otherwise I’m a middle-class person. The attention was new to me — and it came at a cost.

I wasn’t training enough, and it showed. At the Khelo India Paralympic Games this year, I finished third in the men’s shot put F57 category. People asked how someone who had medalled at the Paralympics could lose at home. That defeat lit a fire in me. I went back to training seriously, and at the India Open Para Athletics Championships, I won gold with a new personal best of 14.88m. But I haven’t forgotten that early setback. Now, I’m training harder than ever for the World Para Athletics Championships in Delhi. I’ve competed there twice before without a medal — it’s time to change that.

Sports has given me a chance to serve India again, something I thought I had lost after my injury in the Army. Growing up in Nagaland, I enjoyed playing sports, but my real ambition was to join the Army. The film  Border inspired me, and as someone from a tribe once known as headhunters, I dreamed of becoming an elite soldier in the Special Forces. I couldn’t join the Special Forces directly, of course.

I was recruited into the Assam Regiment, trained for a year in Jammu and Kashmir, and was just three days away from joining the Special Forces when I went on one last patrol with my old unit. I stepped on a mine.

When I woke up in the hospital, part of my leg was gone. After treatment in Srinagar, I was sent to Pune for an artificial limb.

I returned to my unit but was limited to administrative duties — canteen work, back office tasks. It wasn’t why I had joined the Army, and the disappointment weighed on me. To fight the boredom, I spent time in the gym, bench-pressing 120kg, but I had no direction toward sports.

That changed almost 15 years later, when I was planning to retire. I went to Pune to get a new artificial limb and happened to meet Col. Gaurav Dutta. He encouraged me to try para sports before making my final decision. It was a chance encounter that changed everything. He explained how to get started, and I began watching training videos on  YouTube.

Hokato  Sema won the bronze medal in the men’s shot put F57 class at the  Paris 2024 Paralympics.
| Photo Credit:
REUTERS

I started athletics in October 2016 and competed in my first National Championships in April 2017 in Jaipur, winning gold in shot put. Even with limited preparation, I loved the feeling of victory. Initially I competed in the standing throws, but when that category was removed in 2018, I had to switch to wheelchair throws. Because of COVID, my reclassification was delayed, and I missed the Tokyo Paralympics. That was the lowest point of my career. I had trained for two years and didn’t even get a chance to compete. For a time, I thought about quitting, but eventually I realised that nothing good comes from negative thoughts.

Once reclassified, I returned to competition, winning bronze at the Hangzhou Para Asian Games in 2023 and then preparing for Paris. That medal in Paris remains the happiest moment of my life.

Beyond medals, sports has restored my confidence. After losing my leg, I used to cover up my stump because I was ashamed. Now I wear shorts everywhere. If people stare, I let them. I tell others with disabilities: never be shy of them. Turn them into strength, rise to the top, and make your country proud.

I’m not satisfied with just a Paralympic bronze. My goal is to keep pushing myself, and I want to give my best at the Los Angeles Games in 2028.

As told to Jonathan Selvaraj

Published on Sep 23, 2025