Para-rower Asiya hungry for more glory, considers change of sport

She cracks jokes about her physical disability and what follows is a telling, warming laughter. One would tell that her interviewers, James Wokabi and Bernard Ndong’s veins were almost bursting as they tried to hold back laughter.

But she interjects after seeing them holding their breath.

“When will you ever laugh? Just laugh...let it out! It eases so many things and makes life better...That is how I have come to accept my condition. I don’t need sympathy,” says the history-making Para rower Asiya Sururu Mohamed. She calms the situation in the studios as everyone vibrates in laughter.

Well, she had just used her new prosthetic legs for two months when she fell horribly in a bank in town in July 2022.

“My new legs got detached and scattered from the fall, leaving people running away from the scene. I was left alone with a security guard and a lady who summoned the courage to pick the legs, enquiring if they were really mine,” says the 31-year-old as she bursts into laughter.

“Just telling her that these were my legs and I wouldn’t mind her helping me fix them back with the help of the security guard was quite a humbling experience,” says the first Kenyan woman Para rower at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021.

She might have qualified for her second Paralympics in Paris, but the toughest assignment she has ever faced in her life is learning to walk for the first time in 2022.

Dream to walk

Sururu, who got the prosthetic legs just after qualifying for the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2021 was booked at Ottobock Kenya, Ngong Road for fitting and walking lessons.

It was Sururu’s dream to walk on her feet and discard.

 “I was like a baby who is crawling and learning to walk now. Every step was like a celebration. I fell down several times but the fact that I was on my two feet felt differently,” says Sururu, adding that people expected her to learn to walk faster but it took time.

“People aged 50 and over were quite fast in learning to use the prosthetic legs, but the professionals at the centre really helped me.

“I started walking with the aid of rails then I graduated to a baby walker, then two crutches. Currently, I am on one crutch,” says Sururu.

She notes that people find her bubbly, funny, talkative, and a comedian for cracking jokes even about herself.

“Accepting myself and being realistic has really worked for me since it changes the perception people have for the disabled,” explains Sururu.

Sururu says that at 19 her condition dawned on her and she started thinking about how she could help herself.

“I had crazy thoughts where I wondered if I would ever wear high heels or miniskirts, but I had to accept my condition and love myself. I realised that the surroundings wouldn’t have been fair to me if I was hard on myself,” says Sururu.

Born on April 25, 1992, in Ganjoni, Mombasa, her legs and three left-hand fingers were mowed down by an oncoming train after she fell on the rail track.

“Our house and my grandmother’s food kiosk are separated by the rail line. 

“I was coming from feeding at my granny’s kiosk when I underestimated the incoming train. I fell on the rail and got mowed down, “said Sururu, who was two years old then.

“My father, who was coming from work, witnessed the whole episode and suffered a stroke on the spot. An ambulance took us to the hospital but my father didn't survive,” explains Sururu, adding that her mother developed high blood pressure following what happened and passed on five years later.

Sururu was raised by her maternal aunt, who later died before her cousins took over.

“I only came to realise that I was missing my legs and some fingers years later when I got to the adolescent stage. I used to admire shoes yet I couldn’t wear them,” says Sururu, who can now wear trainers but not high heels.

She fancies staying indoors cooking and loves Formula One owing to the speed. Her favourite meals are tripe, kales, ugali, and githeri. Sururu is ready to grace the Paris Paralympics a new person either on one crutch or without as she continues to familiarise herself with the prosthetic legs.

She graced the Tokyo Paralympics in a wheelchair.

Sururu, who is regarded as a jack of all trades in sports, is contemplating quitting para-rowing, a sport that has brought her fame.  “I am thinking of changing to another sport that could take me to the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics,” she says.

Targeting podium finish

However, Sururu, who does sitting volleyball, wheelchair tennis, wheelchair racing, chess, scrabble, darts, javelin, and shotput, has yet to decide the sport that will take her to Los Angeles.

At one time, Sururu was ranked world number 10 in wheelchair badminton. She is targeting a podium finish in the singles sculls at the Paris Paralympics, a course that has been enhanced after finally receiving her training boat that was donated back in 2019.

“I feel ripe and ready to challenge for a medal after I had a great experience on my debut in Tokyo,” says Sururu.

She won the PR1 women’s single sculls (12:44) to become the first Kenyan rower to qualify for two consecutive Paralympic Games.

Sururu set two world indoor rowing records last year; the Concept2 Row ski bike ERG (indoor rowing) of 60 minutes over a distance of 11,243m on October 7 before going for the second four days later with a new mark of 30 over a distance of 5,610m in the women 30-39 PR1.

“Tokyo was a good experience even though it shocked me that people were so serious unlike when we met at other championships like the world event. It’s a vibe that I didn’t expect,” notes Sururu.

“I eventually understood since that is the highest stage in any athlete’s career and getting a medal is supreme.

It’s in Tokyo where Sururu completely fell in love with rowing.

“You see, everyone passed me and I was left behind. It gave me the inspiration and motivation to do well. I didn’t want to come out of the water after the event...I was left there dousing myself in water, making myself wet,” says Sururu.  “I have become a Paralympian, an achievement many will always dream about.”