Rahul Ramugade is an Indian Wheelchair Cricketer from Mumbai. He is a person with a disability. His both legs are affected by Polio. As we are all aware, India is a cricket crazy nation, cricket is Rahul’s love towards Adventure Sports.
As a person with a disability, traveling is a big challenge due to lack of accessibility in India & to overcome the problem of mobility and with a view of being independent, Rahul rides a modified Scooter Activa and has completed more than 50 thousand kilometres on it. He also uses a skateboard in his day to day life.
Being a versatile and a very active person, in 2017-18, he completed 5 kms Marathon in Mumbai within 50 mins and a 6 Kms Marathon in Pune within 45 mins on his wheelchair. Apart from Cricket and Swimming, he plays Wheelchair Tennis and Badminton as hobbies. He has done Wall Climbing in Mumbai & participated in an event of Para-motoring at Chandigarh. He also travelled all the way to the Andaman Islands to explore Scuba Diving.
Recently completed scuba diving training program with Ex-Special Forces Scuba Instructors of Indian Armed Forces at Pondicherry. The next adventure in his bucket list is skydiving. Cricket on a skateboard in his childhood. Now he is part of the Indian Wheelchair Cricket Team since November 2017 & he is also the Captain of the Mumbai Wheelchair Cricket Team.
Along with being an International Wheelchair Cricketer, Rahul is also a Para- Swimmer. He started swimming in his childhood when he was enrolled in school for physically challenged children. It has been a difficult task to practice swimming as the pools are not infrastructurally accessible and no financial support is provided to para-swimmers.
Since March 2015, he has participated in competitive tournaments and travelled all over Maharashtra for competitions. Till now Rahul has won 8 Gold, 1 Silver & 5 Bronze Medals in State Para Swimming Competitions.
Media Coverage:- Rahul has been interviewed by leading Marathi News Channels, ABP Maza and Zee 24 Taas, where he shared his swimming and cricket experience. These interviews were widely broadcasted throughout Maharashtra. His journey reached a large number of audiences and motivated mobilization of disabled youth in society.
Print media has also covered his achievements. Marathi newspapers like Maharashtra Times, Lokmat & Pudhari have reported about his achievements. Disha Magazine, one of the most popular magazines in Maharashtra by the Zee group has published an article about him. Apart from regional media, Times Group’s Indiatimes website has reported about Rahul’s achievements.
He also has been Interviewed at All India Radio & featured on the Mumbai Indians YouTube channel. Since he has got wide media coverage, his achievements have reached large groups in society. Rahul has recently started his YouTube channel named Rahul On Wheels, where he promotes wheelchair accessibility, disability awareness & inclusion.
International Tournaments:-
Kathmandu, Nepal. Tri-Series (Ind, Nep & Ban) Dec. 2017 (Ranked 3rd).
Mumbai, Maharashtra. (Ind Vs Ban) Apr. 2018 (Lost 2-1).
Rudrapur, Uttrakhand. Tri-Series (Ind, Nep & Ban) Apr. 2018 (Runners- up).
Mumbai, Maharashtra. (Ind Vs Ban) Mar. 2019 (Won 3-0).
Wheelchair Cricket Asia Cup 2019 in Kathmandu, Nepal (Ind, Nep, Ban & Pak) (Runners- up).
Domestic Tournaments:-
Surat, Gujarat. Tri-Series, May. 2018. (Runners-up).
Indian Wheelchair Premier League 2018 at Delhi, Jun. 2018 (Winners).
One special match on the occasion of World Disability Day at Mumbai, vs Gujarat 3rd Dec. 2018. (Winners).
National Wheelchair Cricket Tournament 2019 at Nagpur, in Mar. 2019 (Winners).
Promotional Wheelchair Cricket Match At Bangalore Karnataka Mar. 2019. (Winners).
Indian Wheelchair Premier League 2019 at Dwarka, Delhi, Jun. 2019 (Runners-up).
State Level Match At Mumbai Dec.2019. (Winners).
Mangalore Tour vs Karnataka. Dec.2019. (Runners-up).
Tri-Series At Raipur Chhattisgarh. Jan. 2020 (Winners).
Kindness Cup A State Level Match At Mumbai Mar. 2020. (Winners).
Divyang Wheelchair Cricket Premier League at Ludhiana Punjab Feb. 2021 (Semi-Finalist).
Details of his achievement in swimming are as follows:-
Won 1 Gold & 1 Bronze Medals At Maharashtra State Paralympics Games 2015 Mumbai.
Won 1 Gold & 2 Bronze Medals At STATE LEVEL AQUATIC CHAMPIONSHIP 2015 Aurangabad.
Participated & Represented Maharashtra State in National Paralympics Swimmin Championship, 2015 Belgaum, Karnataka.
Won 2 Gold & 1 Silver Medals At State Paralympic Aquatic Championship Pune 2016.
Won 3 Gold Medals At State Paralympic Aquatic Championship 2017 Mumbai.
Won 1 Gold & 2 Bronze Medals At State Paralympic Aquatic Championship 2018 Kalyan.