ParaOlympian Deepa Malik disaapointed with PM Modi for no mention of them in his Mann ki Baat but confident of getting gold in the games
New Delhi August 31:I saw her in my gym a couple of days ago, lifting weights and training hard despite the fact she was in a wheelchair and obviously paralyzed from the waist down. Congratulating her on her spunky spirit, I was floored when she said: “Hi I’m Deepa. Pray for me, I’m training for the Rio Paraplegic Olympics and we are leaving tomorrow.”
Google revealed that Deepa Malik was an incredible embodiment of the human spirit. Paralyzed by successive spinal tumours in the late ’90s, she decided to challenge the odds by becoming a super athlete.
Embarking on her sports career in her late 30s, she dazzled the athletic fraternity by winning 58 state and national level honours, 17 international awards and breaking two Asian world records for javelin.
The Arjuna awardee also set a Limca record for driving eight consecutive days across the high Himalayas at 18,000ft despite serious medical challenges.
At a time when our media is filled with bad news from Kashmir, when a third of the country is under water, when mosquito-borne epidemics are ravaging the people, isn’t it time to highlight some positive news? “If you take Sakshi out of Malik and Karmakar out of D(i)eepa then you are left with Deepa Malik!” she smiles humorously, “and I think I have a very lucky name!”
She is betting that this time round she will win the gold that was denied to her on the previous points system at the IPC Athletics World Championships in 2011.
