Coming from a modest farming background in Gurazala of the present Palnadu district to captaining the Indian Blind Cricket team in three World Cups to victory, to being one of the 26 sportspersons in the country to have been selected for the Arjuna Award, I. Ajay Kumar Reddy has come a long way.
Having lost his sight in the left eye at the age of 4 in a freak incident, the cricketer, also working in the banking sector, has climbed an arduous way to the top. However, he refuses to be defined by his struggles.
“I was too young then to understand what happened to me, but I remember how relatives and neighbours talked about me. They told my parents that there was no future for me. I continued studying in a nearby school until Class VI, where reading letters on the board became difficult. It was then that my parents left Gurazala for Narasaraopeta to admit me to a residential school for the blind. At first, my parents, who knew nothing other than farming, started selling tea and later set up an idli/dosa stall. I used to help them with washing dishes whenever I had time,” the cricketer, who now lives in Bangalore, told The Hindu.
