A river near home
Satendra Singh Lohiya’s story is about giving a new direction to the limits of the body. According to his official Padma citation, he was born on 6 July 1987 in Gata village in Bhind district, Madhya Pradesh. In childhood, a wrong treatment after an illness affected the nerves of both legs, leaving him with about 70% permanent locomotor disability.
His family had little money, but he kept studying, and he began swimming in the river by his village.
A coach, and the open sea
The turning point came when he met Prof. Virendra Kumar Dabas, former head of swimming at the Lakshmibai National Institute of Physical Education, Gwalior. After two years of hard training, he won a medal at the 2009 National Paralympic Swimming Championship.
Open-water swimming then became his signature: an Arabian Sea swim in 2017, an English Channel crossing in 2018, a Catalina Channel relay in 2019, the North Channel in 2022 and a two-way English Channel relay in 2023. Each one brought para-swimming into national conversation.
Medals, and a message
His citation records 23 medals in 11 National Paralympic Championships, along with several international medals. He also travelled 4,320 km from Kanyakumari to Lal Chowk on a Divyang Empowerment Khelo Yatra, to raise awareness of para-sports and of the government facilities open to people with disabilities.
His contribution goes beyond medals: he tied disability to public visibility, to adventure sport and to a social message. Rehabilitation, his life suggests, can mean finding a new ability, not only managing a limit.
Sources
- Padma Awards 2024: official citation
- MyGov: profile video
- Padma Awards 2024: notification
- padmaawards.gov.in/Document/pdf/CitationsForTickets/2024/202468.pdf
- youtube.com/watch?v=LMKtIWmM2HE
- padmaawards.gov.in/Document/pdf/notifications/PadmaAwards/2024.pdf