ablebodied and para athletes work all their lives to qualify for international events and here i was a wheelchairbound man sitting next to bigwigs such as deepa malik the first indian woman to win a medal in paralympic games recalls dumpa who also felt dwarfed by players such as a seventime goldmedallist from korea he told me he had been playing the game for 15 years says dumpaon the surface boccia sounds simple throw one or more of six coloured balls closer to a white target ball than your opponent its not easy its like chess says chandigarhs 25yearold mba student nivran pama who was stunned by the technical precision of australian players at a dubai contest in 2019 besides the futility of training with jugaadu equipment the event taught pamawho spent rs 2 lakh to fly down to the event along with her motherabout the need for government funding many players need attendants to help them during the game bearing their expenses along with existing medical expenses is not feasible says pamawhich is why mumbais joseph roderaz considers himself lucky to be working with an airline that bore the travel expenses for him and his crew of three his nephew his neighbour and his helper meanwhile dumpawho is trying to reach out to authorities in andhra pradeshconcedes he has had more luck selling diamonds