“Thanks for the congratulations India. These medals are for all of you!”
After an impressive opening, India secured two more medals to complete their greatest ever medal tally at the Rio Paralympics.
This means that the athletes returned to their homeland with an overall achievement of four medals – two golds, one silver and one bronze.
The high jump event saw Mariyappan Thangavelu and Varun Singh Bhati secure gold and bronze to get the Indian team off to a flying start.
The ambition to achieve their greatest medal figures to date was immediately apparent.
The next medal came from Deepa Malik in the F53 Shotput event in which she took the silver.
Malik also threw a personal best of 4.61m. Upon seeing her welcome home party, she tweeted:
Heartiest thanks to Indian Army for a huge welcome and reception of my #Paralympics #RioParalympics2016 #silver @ProudPara
— Deepa Malik PLY (@DeepaAthlete) September 17, 2016
This makes her the first Indian woman in history to win a medal at the Paralympics.
The 45-year-old athlete has also become the oldest Paralympian to take to the podium.
Devendra Jhajharia concluded India’s historic achievement with his second gold medal in the men’s javelin to match his accomplishment in Athens 12 years ago.
His left hand was amputated at the age of eight owing to an electrical accident. He is India’s sole Paralympian to achieve gold prior to this event.
It was no doubt a sweet victory to break his own world record and take the final medal for his country.
Jhajharia’s Twitter reads: “Thanks for the congratulations India. These medals are for all of you!”
Other noteworthy achievements at the event included a new Personal Best for Sandeep in men’s javelin.
The 20-year-old narrowly missed out on sharing the podium with Devendra, coming in at a respectable fourth place.
Also in fourth place were Amit Kumar Saroha in the men’s club throw and Farman Basha in the 49kg power lifting event.
This demonstrates the vast improvements India has made in recent years.
Congratulations to all the Paralympians on their inspirational achievements!
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