Inching towards his peak in a career that blossomed belatedly, he suffered a huge blow after a paralytic attack at the World Cup in Granada, Spain.
Diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy, a rare condition that affects one of the facial nerves, Prakash was left cursing his luck. Just over two months earlier, he had won the 10M Air Pistol bronze medal at the Changwon (South Korea) World Cup and had his eyes set on bringing home plenty of silverware.
All that, however, seemed only like a bad dream on Saturday when the 38-year-old nailed the silver in 10M Air Pistol at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow with a steady performance that underlined his fighting abilities. Prakash finished with a total of 198.2 points, behind Daniel Repacholi of Australia who tallied 199.5 in the final.
“There is no end to his determination,” Prakash’s father-cum-coach P N Papanna told Deccan Herald as congratulatory messages started pouring in.
“As a father and coach, I’m really proud of his achievement. Last year, at this time, it was extremely painful.
“Bell’s Palsy affects one in a lakh and I was taken aback when my son was diagnosed with it. What’s worse was that the damage was on the right side of his face, his shooting side.
We all thought he would have to give up his passion. But he never gave up. He was extremely determined and we stood by his decision to return to the sport soon after recovery,” said the proud father.
Coming to terms
On his return from Spain, Prakash took a couple of weeks to come to terms with his illness. After consultations with City doctors, the engineer-turned-MBA learnt that there was a road to recovery and quickly worked towards rehabilitation.
While honing his shooting skills at Sports Authority of India (SAI) range in Kengeri, he also spent time with physios to regain his strength. By mid-September, Prakash had reco¬vered completely, overcoming all odds with tremendous grit.
A passionate biker who made the switch to shooting quite late, Prakash won silver in the 50M Free Pistol at the Tehran Asian Shooting Championships in October, much to everyone’s astonishment.
“He is mentally very strong. When he was hit with Bell’s Palsy, he became very anxious. But he quickly regained his composure and set on his comeback path. We all thought it may take a while but he won a silver within three months. That medal gave him the confidence and he just kicked on from that success,” said Papanna.
While thanking SAI for their contribution towards his son’s recovery, he said what made Prakash’s latest achievement special was the pace at which he adapted to the new gun.
“The old gun was giving him plenty of problems and whatever he had achieved with that was really good. We decided to change the equipment about two-three months ago and he has adapted brilliantly. Generally, shooters don’t change their equipment so close to a big competition but I guess we had no choice.”
Papanna said his son’s next major target would be the Asian Games in Incheon this September. Knowing Prakash the fighter, one can expect a solid charge from him.
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