Mumbai, Oct 4: Rio Paralympics medal winner Deepa Malik is not happy that the quadrennial event is called Paralympics. Instead, she wants it to be known as Olympics Paralympics, as it involves the best of differently-abled athletes from across the world.
In a felicitation ceremony held at the Sharad Pawar Indoor Cricket Academy here on Monday, India's four 2016 Paralympics winners were honoured by Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar.
"It is sad that every time we say Paralympics, we have to add it is Olympics Paralymics. It is still not understood that Paralympics also means Olympic-level competition (for the differently-abled)," said Malik, who became the first Indian woman to bag a medal in Paralympics after clinching silver in women's F53 shot put.
Meanwhile, gold medal winner in men's javelin throw F46, Devendra Jhajharia, was happy to meet his idol Tendulkar. "I consider Sachin sir as my role model. I am happy I could meet him."
For Mariyappan Thangavelu, the gold medal winner in men's high jump T42, his hunger to achieve something big took him to success.
"I wanted to achieve something and take care of my mother (a daily wage labourer) and therefore I started looking at sports. I liked cricket, saw Kapil Dev and Sachin playing and was keen to play for India and win gold.
"When I was a student, my friends never involved me while playing sports. But I felt that I could do it and started high jump when I was in Class XIII and gradually progressed to college and university level.
"After winning (the medal), when I saw the Indian flag, I was in tears and I am very satisfied that I made my country proud," added Thangavelu.
Varun Singh Bhati, who won bronze in high jump, too was felicitated on the occasion.
Tendulkar said he was honoured to be in the company of the champions.
"It's a special moment. I am truly honoured to be here. As an Indian, I am extremely proud of all four of you and the other athletes also who participated. The whole world calls them differently challenged and abled. According to me, these champions are extraordinarily abled."
"We all sportsmen have our fair share of trials and tribulations. But, with these athletes, by multiple folds it happens more. Adversity and challenges to deal with all those things is something, which doesn't happen on its own. It requires lots of focus, effort, determination and dedication and support of your family. And to overcome all these obstacles, I think our champions have come out with flying colours," Tendulkar said.
Each of the medal winners received a cheque of Rs 15 lakh. It was also announced that medal winners in the earlier editions of Paralympics will also be presented Rs 15 lakh each. These include Murlikant Petkar (1972), Bhimrao Keskar, Joginder Singh Bedi (both 1984), Rajinder Singh Rahelu (2014) and HN Girisha (2012).
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