The Rio Olympics might not have been excellent for India. However, every day brings new accolades for the nation at the Rio Paralympics. Devendra Jhajharia won gold in the javelin event at the Rio Paralympics on 13 September 2016. The ace javelin thrower threw a record 63.97 m at Rio and bettered his record of 62.15 m which he had set in Athens in 2004.
Devendra had earlier won the Gold for Javelin Throw at the 2004 Athens Paralympics when he threw 62.15m. He was the only second Gold Medalist for the nation. This time, he improved his previous record by more than a meter. The 36-year-old player from India is ranked third in the world.
The javelin throw event saw some fellow Indians participating and included Rinku Hooda who finished fifth with a personal best of 54.39 meters in six attempts. India’s medal tally has risen to four medals- two gold, one silver, and bronze.
The athlete has been born in Rajasthan and was awarded the Arjuna award in 2004 and the Padma Shri in 2012. He thus became the first Paralympian to receive this honor. He was tragically electrocuted while climbing a tree and his left hand had to be amputated. The athlete also won gold at the International Paralympic Committee’s (IPC) Athletics World Championships in Lyon in 2013.
Tuesday saw Ankur Dhama and Swimmer Suyash Jadhav not qualifying for the men’s 1,500 m - T11 Round 1 event and men’s 200 meters Individual Medley competition respectively. On Monday Shot putter Deepa Malik bagged a silver medal to increase the medal tally of India to three. She threw the shotput 4.61 meters and improved her score. On Friday Mariyappan Thangavelu and fellow Indian Varun Bhati grabbed a Gold and Bronze medal in the Men’s High Jump T42 category.