Kerala man arm wrestles odds to scale new heights

Kochi: A wrestler in Kochi is fighting his disability by aiming higher. He is eyeing the trophy of the forthcoming arm wrestling World Championships in Egypt this September.

Locking arms is not only his hobby but also his way to fame. For 30-year-old Joby Mathew, arm wrestling is child's play while his ultimate goal in life is to climb Mt. Everest. Joby is 65 per cent orthopaedic challenged and is proud to represent India in the World Championships in September this year.

Joby has won medals in national and international arm wrestling championships not only in the disabled category but also the normal category in Japan. And this, he says, was with the help of a Tamil superstar who sponsored him.

"The government has not supported me despite sending repeated requests. If it was not for this Tamil superstar I could not even have dreamed of going to Japan, forget winning medals," Joby says.

Born with short limbs, It was Joby's daily travel from his village near Kottayam to his school and later to college that made him realise that his arms were really strong.

"I was working out on the bench press, I could only do a maximum of 20 kgs. But he just started out on 100 kgs and I was totally amazed. I was thinking how is this possible?" says a startled friend of Jobey, Fahad.

Apart from his bagful of medals, Joby is also well qualified. He has an LLB degree and is working as a PRO of the social work wing at the Rajagiri College of Social Sciences at Kalamassery near Kochi.

But his first love is definitely locking arms with people and defeating them. And all his efforts are geared for the forthcoming World Championships in Egypt in September.

And he's got help too, with the City's women's club Inner Wheel taking care of all his arrangements.

(With inputs from Kavitta Sharma in New Delhi)

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