Indians made history at Rio Paralympics 2016 by bagging three medals - one gold, one silver and a bronze. India's Mariyappan Thangavelu won a gold medal in the men's high jump T-42 event and his compatriot Varun Singh Bhati clinched the bronze in the same event. Deepa Malik bagged a silver medal in the women's shot put final event.
While Thangavelu made a leap of 1.89 metres, Bhati jumped his personal best of 1.86 metres to finish third. Sharad Kumar, the other Indian in the fray, finished at the sixth position. This was the third gold medal for India in the history of the Paralympics. Swimmer Murlikant Petkar had won India's first gold at the 1972 edition while Devendra Jhajharia had clinched the second gold by winning the javelin event at the 2004 Games.
The event witnessed a fierce contest with six of the 12 athletes clearing the 1.74m mark in their first eight attempts. But Thangavelu became a part of the leading group after his 10th attempt when he cleared the 1.77m mark along with Lukasz Mamczarz of Poland, China's Zhiqiang Zhing and Kumar. He then went into the lead along with Bhati as both managed to clear the 1.83m mark. Kumar however, could not improve his performance and eventually crashed out of medal contention. America's Grewe pushed Thangavelu and Bhati to the joint second position by clearing 1.86m to grab the top spot.
But both Indians made a strong comeback by equalling the height to share the pole position. Thangavelu eventually made sure of the gold with an effort of 1.89m in his final attempt while Grewe and Bhati finished with best efforts of 1.86m.
The 45-year-old Deepa Malik from Haryana's Sonipat district won the medal in the shot-put F-53 final by throwing her personal best of 4.61m. By this feat, she became India's first ever woman to win a medal at the Paralympics. Fatema Nedham of Bahrain won the gold medal with the best throw of 4.76m while Dimitra Korokida of Greece bagged the bronze medal with a throw of 4.28m.
This was Deepa's 11th overall Indian Medal. She has also won medals in swimming at international competitions.
Deepa was confined to a wheelchair since 1999 owing to a spinal tumour which made her paralysed from waist down. Thangavelu Deepa and Bhati are in line for rich financial rewards as the Sports Ministry had earlier announced that the Indian gold medallists from the Paralympics will be awarded Rs.7500,000 each, the silver medallists will get Rs 5000,000 while Rs 3000,000 will be given to the bronze medallists.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Congress President Sonia Gandhi took to social media platform Twitter to congratulate Thangavelu, Deepa and Bhati. "India is elated! Congratulations to Mariyappan Thangavelu, Deepa Malik and Varun Singh Bhati for winning medals at the Rio Paralympics," Modi tweeted. Defining the victory as an 'extraordinary achievement' Sonia Gandhi said: "History has been created today. Outstanding lives and games of these athletes will inspire generations to come."
