H. Boniface Prabhu: Prabhu was born to Harry J. Prabhu and Fathima Prabhu, on 14 May 1972, at Bangalore, in the south Indian state of Karnataka, as a normal child like his two brothers, Jerry and George. He has represented India, at International events, in six disciplines, over 50 times. These include athletics, shot put, badminton, javelin throw; table tennis, shooting and discus throw, apart from wheelchair tennis. His foray into international sports was at the 1996 World Wheelchair Games, UK where he won gold medal in shot put and silver medal in discus throw. Two years later, he repeated the feat at the 1998 Paralympics World Championships, participating in javelin, shot put and discus throws. He is the first Indian to win a medal in the International Paralympic Games. His life changed at the age of four when a botched lumbar puncture made him a quadriplegic for the rest of his life. But he never let this disability change his goals of life and continued his education in a regular school. His immense hard work and dedication has made him a notable figure and a leading quadriplegic wheelchair tennis player. He was a medal winner at the 1998 World Championships and was also awarded the Padma Shri by Government of India in 2014. It seems like disability is not a word in his dictionary.
