Indian paralympic athlete Devendra Jhajharia has won Gold medal in Javelin throw F46 event at the Rio Paralympics 2016 breaking his own record.

Devendra has now become the only Indian athlete who won two Gold medals in Paralympics. He had won Gold medal in 2004 Athens Paralympics with the record throw of 62.15 meters. He improved his performance in the ongoing paralympics and won a Gold medal with a throw of 63.97 meters.

With Devendra’s Gold, India’s medal tally has reached to 4, with 2 Gold medals and one silver and a bronze.

Jhajharia, who currently ranks at no. 3 in the world, was born in Rajasthan and was awarded Arjuna Award in 2004, Padma Shri in 2012, becoming the first paralympian to receive the honor. Devendra was electrocuted while climbing a tree when he was only 8 years old and his left hand was amputated.  

Other Indian paralympians who competed in the event alongside Devendra were Rinku Hooda, who ranked fifth with personal best of 54.39 meters and Sundar Singh Gurjar, who didn’t start the event.

Earlier, Deepa Malik had won Silver medal in shotput F53 event and increased India’s medal tally to 3.

By Prajakt K