Mohammad Shams Aalam Shaikh won 6 gold medals at the Reykjavik International Games held at Laugardalslaug Iceland from 26-28 January 2024, whilst representing India.
Aalam has ranked no. 1 in men’s 100m butterfly stroke and men’s 50m breaststroke, according to World Para Swimming’s official world rankings for 2024.
In Iceland last month, Shams Alam won 6 medals, including one gold in 200m individual medley, one silver medal in 50m and 100m breaststroke and butterfly stroke, and three bronze medals in 50m and 100m backstroke and 100m butterfly stroke.
Aalam also broke Herojit Singh and Shreekant Desai’s time records in 100m butterfly and 100m backstroke, respectively.
In his interview with TOI, Alam seemed confident that he’d qualify for the Paris Paralympic Games 2024 by meeting the Paralympic time requirements soon enough. He will also be participating in the National Paralympic Games scheduled in March this year, in Gwalior.
“I am yet to reach the Paralympic qualification mark with my timings at Reykjavik but I am confident that I will get enough opportunities to secure a berth at the Paris Games. The National Games will be my next shot at the Paris quota,” Aalam said in his interview with the Times of India.
Mohammad Shams Aalam is a 37-year-old, paraplegic swimmer, who holds the world record in the longest open sea swimming by a paraplegic individual.
Born in Bihar, Alam was interested in sports as a child, particularly karate and swimming. However, after a spinal cord injury in 2010, Alam took up professional swimming and even went on to represent India at the Asia Para Games in 2018.
source: http://www.maktoobmedia.com / Maktoob Media / Home> East India / by Maktoob Staff / February 27th, 2024
He not only aims to bring medals for his country but also to help his community.
Now an established paraplegic swimmer with several accolades in his lap, Mohammad Shams Aalam Shaikh was born in a small village of Bihar.
This is the story of this champion who conquered the challenges thrown at him and went on to win four gold medals at the Indian Open Para Swimming Championship in 2018.
The village was surrounded by three rivers and thus, it was prone to floods. Naturally, Shams learned to swim when he was a kid. His grandfather was a wrestler, as told by his mother. As he grew up hearing the story of his grandfather, Shams always wanted to become a sportsperson. He was fond of martial arts and went on to get a black belt in Karate as he participated in Karate competitions nationally and internationally. Things were fairly well for him, he even completed his mechanical engineering and was all set for the corporate world.
However, in 2010, his life changed when he was diagnosed with a spinal tumour. Even after his surgery, there was not much improvement. As Shams got another checkup, he found out that the surgery was a failure and the tumour was still there. “Back then in 2010, I was going to represent my country in Asian games 2010 in Karate. But all my dreams shattered as the lower half of my body became ineffective. I became paraplegic,” recalled Shams. He lost sensations below his chest.
Shams got his disability certificate in 2012, which stated that he is 100 per cent disabled and it’s an eternal disability. “I didn’t want to spend the rest of my life crying about what has happened and now I want to move on. It took almost one and a half years for things to get back to normal,” said Shams.
In 2012, Shams went to a rehabilitation centre named Paraplegic Centre situated in Mumbai. At the centre, a doctor told him that swimming is good for the rejuvenation of the nervous system. Shams, who was already a Karate champion, also knew swimming very well. Unfortunately, he was told that he can’t swim, also if he does, the authorities will not take accountability if anything goes downhill.
It happened at the centre only that Shams met Raja Ram, also a differently-abled swimmer, who motivated Shams to pursue swimming. He started swimming, worked on his form and went on to win gold medals at state and national championships. While talking about the same, Shams said, “I never knew swimming would become my career. I won four gold medals in swimming and it gives me immense joy,” said Shams.
He further added, “After my disability, a lot has changed in my life. My perspective for people who have a disability has changed. I started the Parasport Association, Mumbai, which is now a registered body. It is a platform for people with disabilities to showcase their talent in sports.”
Credit: Supplied
He not only aims to bring medals for his country but also to help his community. He said, “Being featured in 300 most influential people in Asia 2020 by The New York Press News Agency is what makes me feel proud of myself. We are also working on making people with spinal cord injuries nationally registered with proper data. This will help our government and our society to recognise our problems and might even make things a little better.”
“We don’t have any qualified para swimmer coach in India, however, Raja Ram, who became my coach and mentor and is an International para swimmer, helped me to tackle technical issues and my physiotherapist helped me in gaining physical strength. Now, my father helps me in doing workouts,” said Shams.
Credit: Supplied
When we asked him about his opinion on Michael Phelps and him consuming 12,000 calories a day, he said, “Yes he consumes around 12,000 calories a day but it is not possible for me and I cannot compare myself with him since it is quite difficult for me and I have never counted how many calories I consume in a day.”
Credit: Supplied
According to Shams, in terms of techniques in swimming, there is no difference between a normal swimmer or para-swimmer. People like Shams who have severe disabilities do some things differently but there are not any major differences.
“I sometimes miss old Shams Aalam. But it is only sometimes, who I am today is a better version of myself,” said Shams.
In 2017, Shams broke his own record by completing 8 km of open-sea swimming in 4 hours and 4 minutes. He came to be the world record holder for completing the longest distance of open-sea swimming by a paraplegic. “I am going through the worst time now since swimming pools are closed due to covid and I am not able to do swimming. I could not qualify this time for the Paralympics 2020 which I wanted to qualify for,” said Shams.
When Shams was 13 years old, he loved watching Bruce Lee on his television and often imitated him. In 2002, he started playing Karate and participated in Karate competitions without thinking about the outcomes. However, the older Shams never had the greater visions of what he would become. He is grateful and continuously pushes him to achieve much more.
source: http://www.cityspidey.com / City Spidey / Home> News / by Anjali Singh / August 13th, 2021
National-international para swimmer Mo Shams Alam has registered his name in the India Book of Records, performing excellently. On December 8, 2019, 24 general and differently abled swimmers took part in the Misri Lal Smriti Open Swimming Championships organized by Bihar Swimming Association at Ganga on Law College Ghat in Patna. Shams completed the first place by completing two km of swimming in 12 minutes 23 seconds. Mohammad resident of Rathaus village of Bisfi Block Shams (33), son of Naseer, says that after getting the name in the India Book of Records, now the Asian Book of Records, Limca Book of Records and Guinness World Record will apply for registration. In the Lok Sabha elections 2019, the commission made them brand ambassadors.
Did not lose courage, started working hard: Even after half of the body is paralyzed, Shams has received five dozen medals from district to international level. In the year 2010, while studying mechanical engineering, there were complaints of spine pain. Operation was done in a hospital in Mumbai. Five months later, the operation took place in another hospital. In the year 2012, the doctors said to be Divyang. Days passed with the help of wheelchairs. But, I did not lose courage. Started working hard in swimming. He wishes to pursue disabled sports talents in rural areas.
Participated in competitions in several countries: Shams, who won the title in Florida in the US in Para Swimming, has won several awards including gold medal in Para Swimming Competition in different parts of the country. Black belt shams in martial arts In the year 2018, he was selected for the Global Sports Mentoring Program organized under the joint aegis of the US Government Department of Sports and Tennessee University of America.
Record Rate Record: In the year 2017, the Umoja Beach Festival organized by a Travels Company in Goa set a record by swimming eight km in four hours and four minutes. At the Para World Series Swimming Championships held in Berlin in July 2017, with 634 players from 54 countries, they achieved seventh rank in the S5 category in performance. Participated in the wheelchair rugby championship of Patna as captain of Bihar team in August 2017. Participated in the Asian Para Games to be held in Jakarta in the year 2018. The year 2017 was conferred by the Bihar Divyang Sports Academy and the Bihar Government in the same year at the Sports Honor ceremony in Patna.
source: http://www.english.newstracklive.com / NewsTrackLive.com / Home> Sports / by Harshita Jain / June 25th, 2020
