Madhavi Latha Prathigudupu is a former para-athletics sportswoman who advocates for inclusion of persons with disabilities in sports and society.
[4] Madhavi was born as the youngest of four siblings in a small village in Telangana, to a father who was a school-teacher and a mother who was a homemaker.
She was diagnosed with polio at 7 months old, a condition that caused her legs and her spinal cord to weaken, due to which she began to use a wheelchair from an early age.
Despite this, she successfully finished the 100m freestyle race, earning significant acclaim and the honor of being named the Most Encouraging Sportsperson.
This association started with 4 para-swimmers and has expanded to have over 300 swimmers, several of whom represent the state of Tamil Nadu in national championships, as of 2016.
After this, Madhavi was approached by UK-based NGO Choice International to partner with them to promote wheelchair basketball in India.
One of these individuals was Kalyani Rajaraman, an activist working for people with disabilities, who served as the Secretary-General of WBFI.
[10] They aimed for wheelchair basketball to be seen as a competitive sport in India, as opposed to a rehabilitative activity, as it was generally perceived as.
However, in 2014, WBFI initiated the first National Wheelchair Basketball Championship at Chennai with 5 teams from different states – Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
[1] IWBF supported the efforts of WBFI by sending four instructors who extended technical help, besides training coaches, classifiers and referees in a camp conducted at Hyderabad.
WBFI conducted the first-of-its-kind National technical camp from 22 to 26 June 2016 in partnership with the International Wheelchair Basket Federation and Sports Authority of Telangana State.
[11] As a vocal advocate for para-sports, Madhavi is outspoken about the challenges faced by people with disabilities in the sporting world.