At 22, India’s Bagati is the youngest deputy chef de mission at Tokyo Paralympic

In 2014, as a teenage with no idea about para sports, Arhan Bagati decided to participate in the Sports For Development Run organised by the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) in Delhi, simply because track legend Milkha Singh was chief guest.

“Best-case scenario I would get to meet him; worst-case scenario, just be around him and maybe take a picture,” Bagati said. “When I went to pick up my t-shirt for the run, I found that they needed someone to compile an audio-visual for the event. I said I could do that.”

The Milkha-inspired chance association which began by putting together a bunch of songs has now led to Bagati’s first gig as deputy chef de mission of the Indian contingent at the Tokyo Paralympics starting on Tuesday. At 22, Bagati is the youngest in that role at the Games, while the position is also a first for India. Only countries that send a contingent of 50-plus athletes can depute a deputy chef de mission; India have 54 athletes in Tokyo, the most so far in a Paralympics.

“It’s an honour that I didn’t even think was in the realm of reality. That I’m the youngest makes it the cherry on the cake,” Bagati said from Tokyo, where he landed on August 19 with the first batch of Indian para athletes.

Born and brought up in Delhi—his father is from Kashmir—Bagati took up athletics in school, participating in the age-group nationals in high jump and 4x100m relay. During the course of that event in 2014, Bagati met the athletics coach of the national para team who gave the boy a “crash course” in para sports and the Paralympics.

Little did Bagati know then that his introduction to a whole new world would transform into his passion within a year. In 2015, he visited the National Para Athletics Championships in Ghaziabad, where lack of decent facilities for the athletes struck a chord. “It hurt seeing people on wheelchairs, some world record holders, some national champions not having ramps to use; something so basic that they not only need but also deserve. I realised that lack of awareness is why there is lack of facilities. I thought I should build that awareness in some way,” he said.

It came in the form of an app called InRio, created before the 2016 Rio Paralympics primarily to assist India’s Paralympians during their Rio participation. Bagati began the ideating process in his class 10, and with the help of developers got the app up and running. The app included features that reflected the most accessible and disabled-friendly public spots in Rio, provided route maps to places inside and outside the Games Village and helped connect the athletes with the Indian community in Rio. The app had a public launch in the Capital. “It helped generate some awareness about the Rio Paralympics,” Bagati said.

Appointed Awareness and Impact Ambassador of the PCI, Bagati also gave presentations about his app to a few corporates in the country. It resulted in his raising funds to help two promising high jumpers—Mariyappan Thangavelu, who won gold in Rio, and Varun Singh Bhati, who clinched bronze—with their basic training needs.

Bagati had firmed up plans for a similar app for the 2020 Paralympics, but the restrictive bubble life in the Village meant it would be of little use in Tokyo. “It will be back again in Paris 2024,” said Bagati.

Apart from para sports, Bagati’s heart also beats for social issues. Graduating with B.A in Politics (major) and Asian Studies (minor) from Pomona College in California, he has also founded KYARI—Kashmir’s Yumberzal Applied Research Institute—which will deep dive and conduct applied research into various developmental issues ranging from women and youth empowerment, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, tourism, among others, in 10 shortlisted districts each in Jammu and Kashmir.

Bagati is moving to Srinagar in October, but for now, his mind is solely in Tokyo. “It’s a very fluid role, but my main job here is to support the athletes from the back end in any management-related issue. I also want to learn from this experience—pick up things from different countries, what facilities they have, what Tokyo provides and compare it to what we don’t have in India at this point and try and merge the two,” he said.

Bagati might be wearing a few diverse hats at the moment, but he is in for the long haul in his association with PCI and para sports. For the 22-year-old, the Tokyo Paralympics is the starting block for a long journey to spread the Paralympic movement in the country. “Whatever I learn now at this age we can implement it for the next several years. I can disseminate the information to my friends and get more young people involved, which will create more awareness about para sports in our age group. Even if they’re not necessarily following it, but even if they are aware that it exists, it can go a long way 10 years down the line.”

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