Rio Paralympics: India's Devendra Jhajharia wins gold medal

Indian Paralympians do India proud at Rio games with two gold medals and a silver already in India's kitty.

India's Devendra Jhajharia poses for the pictures next to the scoreboard that shows his world record in the men's javelin throw F46 event. Source: AAP-Leo Correa

Indian Javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia became the first Indian to clinch two gold medals at the Paralympics as he bettered his own world record to win a gold medal at the Rio Games.

Devendra got the top honours in the men's F46 event after he broke his own record of 62.15 meters at the 2004 Athens games where he had won his first Paralympics gold medal. He made the new world record of 63.97 meters at the Olympic stadium in Rio.

India now have two gold, one silver and one bronze in the ongoing edition of the Games.

Thangavelu Mariyappan had earlier struck gold in the men’s high jump, while Varun Bhati had secured a bronze in the same event.

Later, Deepa Malik won a silver in the women’s shot put event to add to the tally.

Devendra Jhajharia who comes from Rajasthan's Churu district, earlier this year, recalled the day that changed his life forever.

"I must have been eight or nine years old when I got an electric shock. I was climbing a tree in my village and accidentally touched a live cable, which was apparently an 11,000-volt cable. So severe was the accident that let alone my left hand — it had to be amputated right away — nobody was sure whether I would be able to recover from it," Jhajharia told The Hindu.

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