Deepa Malik, a 45-year-old wheelchair bound athlete from Gurgaon, made history when she became the first Indian women to win a medal at the Paralympics.
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Deepa’s best throw of 4.61m from her six attempts was enough to clinch the silver medal. After She won the silver, she talked with IANS News agency and said, “I want to use this medal to support women with disabilities in India. This is our third medal now in Rio and I sincerely hope people back home wake up and acknowledge the potential in Para sports in India”.
However, she applauded the Haryana government for being the only one who doesn’t have huge differences between the awards given to Paralympics and Olympics victor.
Deepa is a paraplegic, paralysed from waist down and mother of two and wife of an Army officer.
“I thank my husband who has been my skill coach, my fitness trainer and my daughter – they have been an awesome strength and motivation. Women often lose that and I have ensured that my family is not neglected, my children are doing well too”, Deepa said.
What makes Deepa’s medal much more special is the fact that she has overcome challenges, which would have left the life of a normal human being in tatters. There were 31 surgeries conducted to remove that tumour. At that time, her husband was away at Kargil during the war and both her daughters were little. State Chief Minister Manohar Lal has announced a cash award of 4 crore rupees for her.
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Malik’s win also means that India’s Paralympians have already outperformed India’s Olympic contingent of more than 100 athletes. India now have secured three medal from the Rio. “If you take Sakshi out of Malik and Karmakar out of D (i) eepa then you are left with Deepa Malik!”. She is a paraplegic since 17 years. Our performance has gone up really well.
