Para athlete Deepa Malik etched her name in history after she became the first-ever Indian woman to bag a silver medal at the Paralympics.
Deepa clinched a silver medal at the shotput F-53 event at the Rio Paralympics on Monday. Her best throw of 4.61m from her six attempts was enough to clinch the medal.
Bahrain’s Fatema Nedham won the gold medal with a best throw of 4.76m, while the bronze medal went to Dimitra Korokida of Greece with a throw of 4.28m.
Deepa will receive a cash award of Rs. 4 crore under Haryana Sports Scheme for her feat.
Deepa, who is a wife of an Army officer and mother of two, is a paraplegic, paralysed from the waist down. Life took a twist when a spinal tumour made walking impossible for her 17 years ago.
The spinal tumour that forced 31 surgeries on Deepa healed after 183 stitches between her waist and legs.
Besides shotput, Deepa has participated in the javelin throw, swimming and has also been a motivational speaker.
She has also won medals in swimming at international competitions. She holds the Asian record in the javelin throw and also has silver medals in shot put and discus in 2011 World Championships.
India, thus, now has secured three medals from the Rio Paralympics. Deepa’s silver is India’s third medal of the Games after Mariyappan Thangavelu and Varun Singh Bhati won gold and bronze respectively in men’s high jump.