It's definitely time for celebrations in India when today early morning, Mariyappan Thangavelu soared a gold and compatriot Varun Singh Bhati won a bronze medal in the men's high jump T-42 at the Rio Paralympics.
Yes, the Rio Paralympics has started and our Indian contingent is doing pretty well.
Mariyappan Thangavelu made history by becoming the first Indian high jumper to win a gold medal at the Paralympics with a leap of 1.89 meters.
This is not the first time, Mariyappan Thangavelu won a medal. This Tamil Nadu athlete bagged a gold medal at the IPC Tunisia Grand Prix when he jumped his PB of 1.78m.
Varun Singh Bhati also did us equally proud when he bagged the bronze medal with a leap of 1.86 meters.
Afflicted by Polio at a young age, Varun worked hard for qualifying for the Rio Paralympics. His hard work started paying off when he went on to finish at the 5th spot in the 2015 Para World Championship in Doha, Qatar. He also won the gold medal at the 2016 IPC Athletics Asia-Oceanic Championship where he set a new Asian record of 1.82m.
Watch our medal winners in action and making India proud.
India won its first ever gold at the 1972 Paralympics when Murlikant Petkar swam 50m freestyle in a world record time of 37.331 seconds.
In 1984, Joginder Singh Bedi won silver at the Men's Shot Put and followed it up with a pair of bronze winning performances in the Discus and Javelin throws.
In 2004, Devendra Jhajharia, Javelin thrower, won gold and Rajinder Singh won bronze for powerlifting in the 56 kg category.
In 2012, H. N Girisha won a silver medal in the men's high jump F-42 category.
Even though the Sports Ministry had earlier announced that the Indian gold medalist will be awarded Rs. 75 lakh, silver medalist Rs. 50 lakh and bronze medalist Rs. 30 lakh, the question remains, are we doing even for these stars?
Even after winning a Gold and Silver medal, did they get the same media coverage as Sakshi Malik and P V Sindhu? Will, these athletes also be pampared with cars and welcome gifts. It's all about waiting and finding out.
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