If you have not been keeping track, the tally stands at four now. Two gold medals, one silver and one bronze. And the list could longer.
India’s para-athletes have put in a fantastic performance at the 2016 Paralympics. Unlike the Olympics in August, there was no long wait for the medal rush – it started on the second day with Mariyappan Thangavelu and Varun Singh Bhati netting gold and bronze respectively. Deepa Malik won silver and Devendra Jhajharia added another gold to make it India’s best performance at the Paralympics.
But it's not just their performances on the track and the field. These medallists have some incredibly inspiring stories of how they overcame their problems.
Mariyappan Thangavelu: Gold medal, men’s T-42 high jump
The 22-year-old from Salem district in Tamil Nadu became India’s second gold medallist at the Paralympics since 2004. And Thangavelu’s story is one of incredible grit.
At the age of five, a truck driver ran his vehicle over Thangavelu’s right leg in his village of Periavadagampatti, near Salem. He was going to school then.
“I was told the driver was inebriated,” recounted the para-athlete in an interview with The Hindu before the Paralympics. His mother, who sells vegetables for his living, had to take a loan of Rs 3 lakh for his medical treatment.
Yet, that never stopped Thangavelu and he found a way to turn his accident into a strength. It was his deformed right toe which he used to generate height during his jumps. This ultimately led to his jump of 1.89 metre at the Paralympics in the men’s T-42 high jump event to win a historic gold.
Not surprisingly, it was to his mother who brought him up that Thangavelu’s thoughts went to. “My first priority is to help her,” he said. “I want to construct a house of our own.”
Devendra Jhajharia: Gold medal, men’s F-46 javelin throw
There are few athletes who have brought as many accolades to Indian sport as Devendra Jhajharia. The man who has been described as “India’s one-armed javelin legend” won a gold medal and set a world record at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens in the men’s javelin throw event. Twelve years later, he won another gold and broke his own world record in the same event at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio.
And what a journey it has been for the 35-year-old, from a small village in Rajasthan’s Churu district to the Paralympic podium. Jhajharia lost his left hand at the age of eight after he was electrocuted by a live cable when he was climbing up a tree. When his villagers got him down, he was declared dead.
After his recovery, Jhajharia faced taunts from the people around him. “The children I used to play with earlier in the neighbourhood ridiculed and shooed me away,” he recounted in an interview with ESPN. But that made him only more determined to prove that he was as good as the best.
Jhajharia wanted to be a champion. And he never looked back. After winning a host of medals on the national circuit, he won his first international gold and even set a new record at the Para-Asian Games in 2002. The rest is history.
Deepa Malik: Silver medal, women’s F-53 shot put
There is almost nothing India’s first female Paralympic medallist seems to have not done. The 45-year-old is an accomplished swimmer, for which she received the Arjuna award in 2012. She has represented the Rajasthan women’s cricket team, is an avid biker, a certified car rallyist, and an entrepreneur.
Oh, and and she also won silver in the women’s shot put F-53 event at the Paralympics in Rio.
A spinal tumour in 1999 required Malik to undergo three surgeries and left her paralysed from her waist down. She also received stitches between her shoulder blades. But that did not even come close to stopping her.
“People thought I would be restricted to my house throughout my life, with others looking after my daily needs,” said Malik, in an interview with Times of India. “But I wanted to break out from that mould”. Her two daughters and her husband stood by her fiercely as Malik overcame one barrier after another to make history at Rio.
Varun Singh Bhati: Bronze medal, men’s T-42 high jump
India had a double bonanza in the men’s T-42 high jump. While Thangavelu won the gold, 21-year-old Varun Singh Bhati took home the bronze in the same event.
Bhati, who lives in Greater Noida, was afflicted by polio at a young age. A basketball player during his school days, he transitioned to the high jump and excelled at the highest level. He achieved the “A” qualification mark for the 2012 Paralympics in London, came fifth in the 2014 Asian Para Games in Incheon, and took home a gold at the 2014 China Open Athletics Championship.
Now, Bhati has gone one step higher and taken the bronze at Rio. At 21, he could just be beginning a brilliant journey.
