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Where there is no law, but every man does what is right in his own eyes, there is the least of real liberty
Henry M. Robert

OLEKSANDR BASHTA: ONE CAN LIVE ACTIVELY EVEN IF HANDICAPPED

24 February, 1998 - 00:00

We met on the Nauka tennis court in Kyiv, during the Ukrainian-Danish meet. After the end of an exciting game the audience was in for a big surprise. A man in a wheelchair appeared on court and played with Dmytro Poliakov for about ten minutes. The former, exhausted after a four-hour battle, seemed to enjoy the short encounter.

Mystified, I asked the man in the wheelchair for an interview. His name was Oleksandr Bashta, 37. After retirement from the Air Force he had gone in for skydiving, until an accident in 1992 left him with a crippling spinal injury. A life-long invalid, the man had decided to stay active.

«What made you take up tennis?»

«It was a way to diversify my life, as good as any, although I was the first in Ukraine to try wheelchair tennis. Later, they started practicing it in Zakarpattia, Mykolaiv, Lviv, Sumy, and here in Kyiv. I come here to coach for six or nine days and then move on to other places.

«Is this sport practiced internationally?»

«As of January 1, wheelchair tennis was accepted by the International Tennis Federation. By analogy with Davis Cup we vie for a World Team Cup. By the way, Ukraine will first compete this year on Barcelona courts, June 22-28. We are to travel there by arrangement with Invasport .

«What’s your international rating?»

«132. One other thing: wheel chair tennis rules are the same as in regular lawn tennis. People find it hard to believe that you can play tennis sitting in a wheelchair. Then they watch a game and get enthusiastic.»

 

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