Russia-Ukraine crisis: India’s top para-athlete worries for his second home, Kharkiv

One of the country’s top-most Paralympians Sharad calls Kharkiv his second home. He trained with Nikitin for five years in Ukraine’s second-largest city, studied business management at its top institute, learnt Russian, made friends and even experienced the tension of pro-Russian unrest in the region.

“I owe all my major medals to coach Nikitin and my training stint in Kharkiv. I used to train with Nikitin in Bangalore (in 2012) when he coached here. Once he left back home, I followed him to Ukraine (in 2017) because it is the ‘high jump capital of the world’. Bohdan Bondarenko, the Rio Olympics bronze medalist, trained at the same school in Kharkiv, where I was coached,” Sharad says after getting off a call with Nikitin.

Just spoke to my coach in Ukraine Kharkiv , he is worried , he can hear bombing from his room, he is planning to move to his garage underground.

— Sharad Paralympian (@sharad_kumar01) February 24, 2022

The veteran coach told Sharad about looking for safety in an underground bunker because he could hear the bombs. “I feel helpless. I am hoping the coach and his family find a safe place,” Sharad added.
He is also anxious because his friends and classmates in Kharkiv, many of them international students, are still stuck in their apartments.

“I got to know that there was a bomb going off next to the apartment in Rybalka where I used to stay,” Sharad said.

“I am constantly talking to my friends in Kharkiv. All are crying on the phone saying ‘we don’t know what to do’. They are all stuck right now. They are from different parts of the world like Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan,” Sharad said.

Sharad also struck friendships outside the Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute, where he had enrolled for an MBA course.

One of those who Sharad is trying to help get in touch with embassy officials in Ukraine is Aziz Mansoor Ali Amdawala, a quality control manager at a private firm. When Amdawala moved to Kharkiv from Vasai in Mumbai a couple of months ago, he didn’t imagine his world would go upside down so fast.

“The building I am staying in is vibrating because of the shocks of explosions kilometres away. I woke up this morning to a loud blast and was afraid that our building could be hit. There has been tension in the region but none of us staying in Kharkiv expected it to turn into a war overnight,” Amdawala said.

The first thing he did on Thursday morning was to buy some essentials from a store that was open. “As of now power and water supply are unaffected. There is food and water. Only if the sound of explosions could stop. Some Indian students I know called me to say that we should move out of Kharkiv. I told them to stay put because we don’t know how it is outside Kharkiv. I don’t know when I can get on a flight back home,” he said.

Knowing that a top Paralympian in India is trying to help him move to a safer place is the only reason Amdawala is sane.

Sharad’s masters in political science, with specialisation in international relations from JNU in New Delhi, and his stay in Kharkiv helps him understand what is happening on the ground in the Russian-Ukraine crisis. He found time to attend Russian language classes at the Kharkiv Polytechnic institute when completing his business management course. Sharad can understand Russian and can string together words to make basic conversation.

“During my time in Kharkiv, I felt a number of people were for shared Russian culture and wanted close relations with Russia. Ukraine is like a buffer zone between the East and the West in the modern era. Kharkiv is like a traditional capital. Every winter there was tension in Kharkiv with protests between those who were pro-Russia and others who were not and stand-off near the border,” Sharad said.

The 29-year-old from Patna has many takeaways from Kharkiv. “I used to train at the Htz School. If you want world-class facilities you have to go to the United States. But in Kharkiv it is the old Soviet Union approach of there being a method to the training,” Sharad said.

He used to train at an indoor facility at the school from 10 am to about 1:30 pm, then go to the Polytechnic Institute to study. “It was so cold. Most of the time you had energy only to train, rest and recover. But I managed to study too and make friends. I won medals for the country because I was able to train in Ukraine. Hope normalcy returns soon and my coach and friends are safe.”