Since the summers of 1968, India has been participating in the summer Paralympics 2016. India was unable to mark its presence in the games, till in 2004, Devendra Jhajharia, Javelin thrower, won gold and Rajinder Singh won bronze for powerlifting in the 56-kg category. The 2012 London Paralympics have also been impressive for Indian Athletes as H. N. Girisha, an Indian athlete having a disability in the left leg, won a Silver medal for the country in men’s High Jump F-42 category.
Summer Paralympics of 2016 in Rio, India has some big win plans as our country sent its largest ever delegation in the history of summer paralympic games i.e. 19 competitors in a total of 5 sports. Also, these games have seen India’s best ever performance till now with a big win of 4 medals in the Rio Paralympics 2016; the bifurcation being 2 Gold, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze medal.
Devendra Jhajharia has once again made India proud with his game by grabbing a Gold medal for the men’s javelin throw F46 event in the Rio 2016 Paralympics. We present you with 10 facts about this star performer, that we bet you never knew:
- Devendra Jhajahriya was born in 1981 in the Churu district of Rajasthan.
- At the age of 8, he was electrocuted while climbing a tree and as a result, his left hand had to be amputated. But the incident didn’t deter him from pursuing his dreams.
- He started his sports coaching under R D Singh, a Dronacharya Awardee coach. Singh spotted him while he was competing at a school sports day. Since then, he is being coached by Singh.
- At the Athens Paralympics games in 2004, he set a new world record by covering a distance of 62.15 m defeating 59.77 m score.
- Before Rio, he also won gold for India in 2004 in Athens in the javelin throw.
- His score of 63.97 meters has formed a new world record at the Olympics Stadium in Rio in Brazil and also improvised his previous record of 62.15 meters.
- At Rio Paralympics games, he defeated his own record and set the graph even higher in the F 46 event with a world record throw of 63.97 m.
- Till date, Devendra has been honored with Arjuna Award in 2004, Padma Shree Award in 2012 and FICCI Para-Sportsperson of the Year in 2014.
- Devendra is the first Paralympian to be honored with a Padma Shree Award in 2012.
- In 2005, Rajasthan Government also felicitated Jhajharia with the prestigious Maharana Pratap Puraskar Award and is presently a proud member of Paralympics committee of Rajasthan.
His heroics have brought proud to not only his state but his country and his fellow men. Such personalities are always praised and promoted by Rajasthan’s Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and thus, to provide a recognition to his talent, the Rajasthan Government has announced a cash prize of Rs. 75 lakh. The Rajasthan government also announced that Jhajharia would be allotted a 200 sq metre plot in the capital city of Jaipur and 25 ‘Bigha’ land in Ganganagar for his meritorious performance in the Paralympics so far.
