Aasim destined for Paris to swim his way to the top of the world

When Muhammad Aasim Velimanna swam against the current of physical handicaps with sheer brilliance and will power, few would have imagined he would soon set off to Paris. His mission: to compete in the Paraswimming Competition to be held in Paris from April 28 to May 4. And he is scheduled to start his journey on April 26 for which he has obtained the visa.

Born without either hands, he swam his way to success and won prizes stunning every one. A secondary school student in MJ Higher Secondary School, in Elettil , he is a native of Velimanna in Omassery Panchayat and son of religious school teacher A Mohammed Shaheed and Shamseena.

One who is 90 per cent physically challenged, he first captured attention by swimming a distance of a kilometer in Periyar river in Aluva in 2022. It did not take long for him to win gold in the swimming events of 50 and 100 metre Freestyle and 50 metre Backstroke at the State Paralympics meet.

He was trained in swimming by Saji Valasseril from Aluva.

In the National Paraswimming competition held in last October in Panaji, Goa, he won three gold medals. The accolades he won include the first time Yuva Prathibha (young genius) award of the State Youth Commission and the Ujjwala Balya award of the State Social Justice Department. The crowning moment came when Aasim won the UNICEF Child Achievers Award in 2014, and was appointed the Child Brand Ambassador for the All Kerala Charity Service Association.

Aasim was also honoured in a different context in Qatar. On the occasion of the final match of FIFA Cup 2022 in the Lusail Statium in Qatar between Argentina and France, he had the honour to stand alongside the two teams.

Aasim had also hit headlines by writing a letter with his foot with an appeal to the authorities to upgrade the school where he had studied to upper primary school, a cause which was accomplished eventually.

Since then, he is in a campaign to get the school upgraded to high school for which he collected signatures. For drawing the government’s attention to this, he travelled more than 450 km in wheelchair without which he cannot move much.

But with all this, Aasim has set an aim to provide equal opportunities for all children to grow and succeed in this competitive world, no child should lack education due to disabilities To this end, he has establlished the NGO ASIM VELIMANNA FOUNDATION, through which he supports higher education and empowers the underprivileged.

Although he was selected to contest in the Paraswimming Championship in Paris, raising the deposit amount was a challenge before him. But thanks to the contributions of a large number of willing donors his trip became a certainty.

Aasim will be accompanied in his journey to Paris by his father and physiotherapist .