After Sakshi Malik, Another Malik did win a medal for India at Rio. Deepa Malik, a 45-year-old wheelchair-bound adrenaline junkie from Gurgaon made history when she became the first Indian woman to win a medal at the Paralympics. Her throw of 4.61m won her the silver in the shot put F-53 event.Deepa’s silver extended India’s tally at the Rio Paralympics to three medals.
Deepa’s silver extended India’s tally at the Rio Paralympics to three medals. Bahrain’s Fatema Nedham won the gold medal with a best throw of 4.76m, while Dimitra Korokida of Greece bagged bronze with a throw of 4.28m.
Deepa is a mother of two and wife of an Army officer and she is also a vocal spokesperson for paraplegic rights in the country with her Ability Beyond Disability movement. 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 journey has been wonderful for me and my entire family. I am proud to be the oldest athlete in the team and win a medal.”
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Deepa Malik is also the first Indian woman to participate at the Paralympics. This silver Medal comes on the back of a dazzling array of swimming and javelin efforts for Deepa. Deepa Malik turns a paraplegic after a spinal tumour in 1999, followed by three surgeries and 183 stitches, made walking impossible and is paralysed from the waist down.’
Deep is also a former Rajasthan state women’s cricketer but her first love remains biking. Deepa Malik once claimed she had gotten married at 20 because her husband supported her love for bikes. Despite her current condition, she became the first paraplegic woman in the world to ride a quad bike across nine high-altitude passes in nine days on Ladakh’s motorable roads. In 2013, she participated in a Chennai-Delhi (3,278km) panIndia drive by paraplegic women.
That’s not all. In 2008, Deepa created another record when she swam the Yamuna for a kilometre upstream.Four years later, she was awarded the Arjuna Award for her swimming performances. In all, she has 17 international medals, 58 National gold medals, she holds the Asian record in the Javelin throw and also has World Championship silver medals in Shot Put and discus in 2011.
