How Did a Soldier Who Lost His Leg at 18 Win Paralympic Bronze at 40?

Who is Hokato Hotozhe Sema?

He is a Subedar in the Indian Army’s Assam Regiment and a Paralympic shot-put athlete competing in the F57 category. Born 24 December 1983 in Niuland district, Nagaland, he joined the Army and built a military career that ran parallel to, and later alongside, his sporting one.

How did he lose his leg?

In 2002, during a counter-infiltration operation at Chowkibal in Jammu & Kashmir, Sema was caught in a landmine blast that cost him his left leg below the knee. He was 18 at the time, according to his profile reporting. The Outlook India profile on his recovery details the long process of learning to walk again after the injury.

How did he get from that hospital bed to a shot-put circle?

Sema stayed in the Army as a Junior Commissioned Officer and took up para shot put. The path from a 2002 battlefield injury to international competition played out over more than two decades, a timeline later traced in detail by The Print’s feature on his rise through the F57 rankings.

What did he achieve at the Paris 2024 Paralympics?

Sema won the bronze medal in Men’s Shot Put F57 at the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris, with a personal-best throw of 14.65m. Reporting on the event placed his age at the time at 40 — consistent with his December 1983 birth date and the Games’ August–September 2024 window.

What recognition followed?

The Print’s feature noted that Sema went on to become World No. 1 in men’s shot put F57 rankings and was later honored as the first Paralympian conferred the Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, a recognition tied to his dual record of military and athletic service.

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