Manikandan Kumar could not repeat his gold winning performance of 2012 at the Para Climbing World Championships this year but won plaudits from the community Think of a polio-affected person in India and the image is usually that of a disabled individual slumped in a hand-crank wheelchair.

But para-climber Mani Rogers (as he calls himself) of Bangalore, southern India, refused to be among them and took to climbing 10 years after being stricken by the disease, eventually putting India in the world climbing map winning medals in whichever tournament and championships he's participated in. A quick interview with this go-getter on his performance in the para climbing world championship in Italy: # You participated in an international para climbing championship earlier. How was this experience different from that? To be honest, the experience was really nice.