Mariyappan and Sharad bag medals in the high jump
Indian para high jumper Mariyappan Thangavelu and Sharad Kumar win the silver and bronze medals respectively in the high jump T42 event.
The two medals won in this event have taken India’s tally to a total of 10 medals at the Paralympic Games. In fact, this is the first time that India has been able to reach double digits in the medal tally.
Defending champion Mariyappan lost to USA’s Sam Grewe in a nail-biting contest that went down to the wire. Interestingly, in Rio 2016 it was the Indian who had trumped Sam to a gold medal.
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Mariyappan Thangavelu suffered a permanent disability when his right leg was run over by a bus. This freak incident led to the crushing of his right leg when he was just 5 years old.
The south Indian has a story that is no short of a fairytale. He takes pride in the fact that he has risen from abject poverty to become one of India’s greatest Paralympians ever.
Sharad Kumar will prove company to Mariyappan on the podium as the lad from Patna, Bihar clinched the bronze medal.
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Sharad suffered from wrongful medication as he was administered a spurious polio vaccine at the tender age of 2. He is also a two-time Asian para games gold medalist. Therefore, he was one of the top medal contenders.
Another Indian competitor who participated in this event was Varun Bhati who couldn’t perform at par with the expectations people had from him. He finished at seventh place from a field of nine participants.
This event was that of T42 classification which is specifically for athletes with leg deficiency. The athletes compete in a standing position.
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