Deepa Malik
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2016: silver medal in shot put
Deepa Malik was already a champion even before the start of the Paralympic Games. The silver medal at the Paralympics just made it official. A former cricketer, holder of the Asian record in javelin throw, World Championships silver medals in shot put and discus, her various medals in swimming at international competitions, the list just seems to go on and on for the 46-year-old paraplegic, who is paralysed from the waist down.
She won a silver medal in the shot put F-53 event (4.61m throw) to become India's first woman and oldest athlete to ever win a medal at the Paralympics. The journey has been anything but easy for Deepa. A spinal tumour confined her to a wheelchair 17 years ago. The three surgeries that followed and the 183 stitches between the waist and legs made walking impossible.
She has no torso balance and only half her lungs inflate.
“It was pretty depressing in the beginning but the love and support of my family made the process easy for me. The acceptance of your disability by your near and dear ones can make a lot of contribution to one's confidence,“ she told the Disability News and Information Service. Her adventurous spirit came to the fore in 2012 when she became the first paraplegic woman to reach world's highest motorable road in Khardung La, driving in her customised car. “Life is not over...disability is only a state of mind,“ says Deepa.
2018
Asian top spot
HIGHLIGHTS
Being confined to a wheelchair has clearly not been a deterrent for Deepa.
In 2016, Deepa became the first Indian woman to win a medal at the Paralympics.
Deepa is an accomplished swimmer, adventure sports junkie, biker and entrepreneur.
Inspirational Indian para-athlete Deepa Malik has sealed the top spot in the discus Asia Ranking 53 category and second place in the Asian Games combined category event 51/52/53 with a career-best throw of 8.01 meters on day two of the World Para Athletics Grand Prix 2018 in Dubai. With this superb effort, Deepa has qualified for the 2018 Asian Para Games to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia from October 8-16.
Deepa, famously, won silver in the shot put F-53 event at the 2016 Rio Paralympics with a best throw of 4.61m sealing her prize.
Being confined to a wheelchair has clearly not been a deterrent for Deepa, one of the country's most decorated athletes. A cursory glance at her achievements underscores that truism: the 47-year-old is an accomplished swimmer, adventure sports junkie, biker and entrepreneur and has had her name entered into the Limca Book of Record not once, but four times, and in 2016 became the first Indian woman to win a medal at the Paralympics.
Suffering a spinal tumour in 1999, which required three surgeries and 183 stitches between her shoulder blades and left her paralysed from the waist down, did not stop Deepa from chasing and achieving her dreams. A recipient of the Arjuna Award in 2012 for her achievements as a swimmer, she has swum across the Yamuna River against the current, covered a distance of over 3,000kms from Chennai to Delhi on a customised motorbike and scaled nine high altitude motorable passes in Ladakh in nine days.
