On Day 4, Ankur Dhama failed to qualify for the final round of the T11 1500m Race despite officially finishing second after three runners were disqualified. Since there was no other event featuring Indians on September 11, it might suffice to say that the overall atmosphere in the country was slightly heartbreaking.
Starting today, Indians will now be able to watch their heroes fight it out in the Games at Rio. On September 12, four Indians will be competing in their respective events. As a result, the day promises to be an action-packed one.
Naresh Sharma, the veteran competing in his fifth Paralympic Games, will feature in his third event in this edition. He has failed to make an impact in his previous qualifying rounds and hopes for a medal in this department are not particularly high. However, as fellow countrymen, it is always our duty to support these brave an inspirational athletes representing India overseas.
After a promising start that failed to yield results, India's only para-swimmer this year will also be competing on this day. The 50m Butterfly event will see Suyash Narayan Jadhav step into the pool once again. He will feature in the first heat of this event.
On the Athletics front, we certainly have a lot to look forward to. The Indians in action on September 12 are Virender Dhankar and Deepa Malik. In the case of Virender Dhankar, this veteran army man was not originally a part of India’s contingent. Despite being ranked 1st in the world in F57 Javelin and 5th in the world in F57 Shotput, he was not originally selected. In fact, prior to the Games, he even made an appeal to the Prime Minister and the Sports Minister to help him out of his inexplicable predicament.
Things worked out for him, though, after Russia were disqualified for participation and he (along with Karamjyoti Dalal) were inducted into the squad. Dhankar goes into the competition with high hopes after winning two Gold medals at the 8th FAZZA IPC Athletics Grand Prix held in Dubai earlier this year.
The other athlete participating in Athletics is Deepa Malik. A paraplegic, she was the first person to ever receive a license for an invalid rally vehicle. Throughout her life, she has won several accolades both in India and overseas for her continued participation and achievements in motorsports.
In 2010, she became the first Indian woman to win a medal at the Para-Asian Games held in China. She won bronze that year. The very next year she bagged a silver medal in shotput at the IPC Athletics World Championships. She is certainly the most well-known face among the athletes in the contingent. For F53 Shotput, Malik is currently ranked 7th in the world.
The Games will be available for live streaming at paralympic.org
