New Heroes of India-Our Paralympians

When we talk about sports in India only one game comes in our mind and that’s Cricket. Of course it’s a great game this game gave us Sachin Tendulaker, Saurav Gangualy and many more players. Some of you may start thinking now that may be I am going to talk about Hockey now. No today this article will introduce you to them who are special because they are disabled by their bodies but much more stronger by their mind and heart.

Today we are going to talk about those who won not only medals but hearts in Paralympics 2016.

1. Mariyappan Thangavelu : He was just five years old when his right leg below the knee was crushed by a vehicle. His mother sells vegetables and still paying off the loan which she has taken for the treatment of Mariyappn.  This guy is just 20 year old and despite losing one leg he won a gold medal in high jump. In an interview Tanhavelu said, ““I was told the driver was inebriated. It doesn’t matter. My right leg is now stunted — it is still a five-year-old’s leg; it has never grown or healed”.                                                                                               Image Source
2. Varun Singh Bhati : Varun won the bronze medal in same event where Mariyappan won gold. Varun suffered from polio when he was kid and that diseases had gave him disability of one leg.  Before this Olympic Varun has won Gold in Doha at the 2016 IPC Athletics Asia-Oceania Championship. In 2014 he won the gold medal in China Open Athletics Championship, according to a report by Indiatimes.com .According to his Facebook page  21 years old Varun is studying B.Sc (Maths).                                                                                                    Image Source
3. Devendra Jhajharia : Devendra has won his 2^nd Paralympics’ gold in javelin throw. He broke his own world record in 2016. In 2004 Paralympics in Athens he made record of 62.15m throw and in rio 2016 he made a new record of 63.97m. In an interview given to The Hindu, Devendra talked about the accident which has changed his life. He said , “ I must have been eight or nine years old when I got an electric shock. I was climbing a tree in my village and accidentally touched a live cable, which was apparently an 11,000-volt cable. So severe was the accident that let alone my left hand – it had to be amputated right away – nobody was sure whether I would be able to recover from it,\” , Devendra won gold medal in Paralympics of 2004, silver in Asian games in 2014 and one more feather in his cap is Rio Paralympics 2016. He received Padamshri in 2012.                                                                                              Image Source
4. Deepa Malik : Deepa Malik has won silver in short put F53 event. She said she felt ,” incredible to fulfil a lifelong ambition\”. She is 45 year old Arjun Awardee. Deepa is on wheelchair from last 17 years because of spinal tumour. She is married to Army officer Col Bikram Singh Malik and mother of two daughters. She is a biker a swimmer and a lady full of life.                                                                                                                              Image Source

Till now we have got three medals in Rio Paralymics 2016 like every Indian I wish to get more. But one thing I love most about Rio Paralympics is the coverage of this event. After this great performance from our great athletes I hope our government will provide more funds and facilities to our differently-abled athletes.