Huafrid Billimoria broke the barriers and stereotypes in June 2023, winning India’s first-ever medal at Asian Triathlon Championship across categories.
Billimoria secured a bronze medal at the 2023 Asia Triathlon Para Championships in Uzbekistan’s Samarkand, while his compatriot Sashruti Nakade won a silver medal. The Indians defeated some of the toughest competitors from Japan as well as Uzbekistan at the championships.
Billimoria, 27, suffers from Dystonia, a neurological disorder and despite all the hardships, achieved this feat for India.
Billimoria is ecstatic with his achievement but disappointed at the same time with the importance India gives to sports other than cricket. He asked the inevitable question, “Does India care? Sometimes you need to ask these questions.”
He wants the nation to be behind him and support him, especially after the historic moment of the first-ever medal at the Asian Championships.
“Everyone has the same struggle, but when a sport like this creates history, this is when India – I am talking about journalists, funds, the economics of support, everything, should be behind an athlete or the federation. But I consider myself to be a glorified beggar.”
Here are some of the excerpts from his conversation with News18.com.
How did you decide to get into sports?
As a kid, I had severe learning disabilities and ADHD. I was always away from sports, I had to study a lot more than others. I was in a normal school. I was always away from sports. So doctors would say, ‘he will stay in a wheelchair’, ‘he will not be able to do much’, because Dystonia is a progressive disorder. So that’s when I felt like I am done with doctors and their medications. I threw myself into sports.
I was into mixed martial arts and wanted to become a professional fighter. But the punches were making my Dystonia worse. That’s when I shifted from combat sports to endurance sports when I read about the Iron man race.
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How does a Triathlon race work for para-athletes? Are there any differences when compared to the races of normal athletes?
Yes, there are. It is a comparatively shorter distance race – roughly half the distance from what happens at the Olympics. It is a 750m swim, 20km bike ride, and 5km run.
Are you allowed any additional equipment during the race for support?
So you get assistance when you transition from swimming to the bike lane. And I do utilize that assistance because I keep losing balance after I come out of the water. And, you can use prostheses and braces which are approved. But I have not experimented with it. If it benefits me, maybe I will start utilizing it.
Can you highlight your training regime and daily routine?
I have seen a lot of people who overwork, work very hard and intense. But Triathlon is not that. You have to train your body to be adaptable and smart. Your body has to adapt to the speed. So more you adapt your body to running, swimming, and cycling slowly and at a low heart rate, the faster you get eventually. That is how I train. And my coach Mihir Deo has been a blessing in disguise, he is like an absolute legend. He introduced me to body adaptation, and to train smart. Without him, I would not have managed to reach the podium.
And how many hours do you train daily?
One – one and a half hour. Sometimes, two hours. On weekends, when there is a long session, three hours.
During this specific race in Uzbekistan, your cycle got punctured, right? So take me through that incident.
Unfortunately, the tyre-liner got disintegrated, and a tyre-liner piece cut into the tube. That led to the puncture. Now there were no shops in Uzbekistan to get the puncture repaired, no shops for sports bikes. It’s crazy. Uzbekistan is a good team in Triathlon. They all train abroad. Despite of them being economically behind India, they are supported.
The puncture really got me off track. I was petrified – ‘Aab kya hoga!’ (What will happen now)! Because there were no shops around, it was a bigger concern. At last, my coach somehow managed to get a tube from a Decathlon. The irony was that was imported from India. And the tyre liner that was broken, I used a tap instead of it. On the day (of the race) I don’t know why, maybe I was psychologically scared, that I thought it to be dragging my cycle. I felt like there was another puncture while I was riding, but actually, it was just my mindset. I felt that I pushed my bike to the absolute limits. I thought the entire time that I was riding on a flat tyre and I was not pushing myself. When I checked at the end, there was no puncture. My coach was like, ‘what were you doing?’
In spite of the puncture scare, I pushed an average speed of 31 kmph, which is crazy. I could have done much more if I didn’t have that puncture scare the day before and if my mind didn’t play tricks. I thought the tyre will tear off. If that happens, there would be no way to continue the race. So I was afraid to push the bike.
How do the Indian team and contingent differ from the other teams?
The Japanese and the Uzbeks were given shoes, and jackets of their country (from their national federation). We had nothing. Everything was at our cost. The only thing they give us is a Tri-suit but that also has quality issues.
And these athletes are sponsored by Asecs, Toyota, and some other Infra company. They have a Team coach, interpreter (translator), team manager, physio – that’s how they travel. And here we are – travelling like beggars. We had to ask for small things like cold water from the Japanese. They travel with ice coolers, so we had to beg. This is what our value is as a sportsperson.
The Japanese travel with spare wheels and all. We don’t have those facilities or funds anything. We are, I would say, 15 years behind the leading Triathlon countries. In spite of that, Indian para-athletes have got these results.
When you say that you are privately funded, do you have any sponsors?
No, I am talking about family, friends, my company. There is no government support, there is zero funding. My company Impresario Entertainment supported me while I was pursuing the iron man race.
How do you think can the government, sports federations, or private organisations help the athletes to develop?
I think it is not only the sports federations and national federations. It is media personnel who take the effort to talk to me. It is that person who has read about Huafrid’s story and talks about it rather than turning on a cricket match. It is that person who in my community, has spread about me. It is the entire nation that needs to change its mindset and come out of its bogged-down, stereotypical mindset for national federations to support us. That is what we need. It is not a question of government and national federations. We are the people who make the government and federations.
If we don’t change our mindset, we will lose out on talent. I am so well-educated and privileged, yet I am broke, just from these trips. Imagine, what talent India must be having, and how much we are using. I come from a privileged socio-economical background. I am not very, very well off. Triathlon is one of the most expensive sports in the world. So it is difficult to pursue. For para-athletes, it is twice as expensive.
To be honest, we are on the track, but we are not on the fast track. We are not making things happen, and we are going to lose talent in the future. Even if you see Neeraj Chopra or other athletes, how many of them have raised questions about facilities?
When I say, India will lose talent, I mean how many cricketers have changed their nationalities and play for other countries? They will think, ‘India’s mentality is not right, why should we do anything for this country’.
This is a very interesting point. So tell me, how do you think can the mindset of a country that is obsessed with cricket can be changed?
I think the media will have to play an important role here, to take an effort and talk about other sports. How women’s cricket got equality with equal pay. So when the mindset of people starts changing, that’s when the government and federations are forced to provide equality.
Okay! One last thing – what does this win mean for you?
It has just opened the doors to the floodgates of better talent, of tri-athletes, of more para tri-athletes, and a much more inclusive and diverse India. It creates more social impact than anything else that our para athletes are as good as other athletes.
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