Deepa Malik, one of the key figures from India’s contingent for the Rio Paralympics 2016, on Mondaybagged a silver medal in the women’s shot put final event.
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Bahrain’s Nedham Fatema won the gold medal with a throw of 4.76m while Greece’s Korokida Dimitra finished third with a 4.28m throw.
Her effort of 4.61m in her sixth throw earned her a silver in the Rio Paralympics on Monday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has congratulated Malik on her historic success.
Deepa will receive a cash award of Rs 4 crore under Haryana Sports Scheme for her feat. It was India’s third medal in the event after Thangavelu Mariyappan and Varun Bhati gave India a gold and a silver in the high jump T-42 event on Saturday (IST).
Malik, who is also the mother of two children, was paralyzed by successive spinal tumours in the late ’90s.
The spinal tumor had to be operated and 31 surgeries were conducted on Deepa which was healed after 183 stitches between her waist and legs.
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Apart from shotput, Deepa has participated in javelin throw, swimming and has also been a motivational speaker. “But we are not disappointed, we believe we will bring back more medals than our sports stars did at Rio”, she said. She is also the current Asian record holder in the javelin throw, and won silver in the shot put and discus throw events at the 2011 World Championships.
