Rio Paralympics 2016 – Overview

15th  Summer Paralympic Games for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil  from September 7 to 18, 2016

• 23 Paralympic sports and 528 events held in the  11 days of competition to yield 225 medals for women, 265 for men and 38 mixed medals.
• 4359 athletes from 163 countries participated in the Summer Paralympic Games 2016.
• The opening ceremony of the 2016 Summer Paralympics took place on the evening of 7 September 2016 at the Maracana Stadium. With the theme “Todo Mundo tem um Coracao” (“Everybody Has a Heart”).
• 19 competitors (16 Men & 3 Women) participated in Rio 2016 paralympic games for India in 5 sports.
• India’s flag bearer at the 2016 Rio Paralympics opening  ceremony on 7th September 2016 by Devendra Jhajharia
• India’s flag bearer at the 2016 Rio Paralympics closing ceremony on September 18, 2016 by Thangavelu Mariyappan

2016 Summer Paralympics medal tally :

Ankur Dharma – India’s first blind athlete 

Ankur Dhama is the India’s first blind athlete in 30 years to participate at Paralympics this year in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. At the age of six, Ankur became completely blind when he was in Baghpat in Uttar Pradesh.

• Dhama clocked a time of four minutes and 37.61 seconds in Heat 1, a couple of seconds ahead of Raxon Oscar (4:57.22) of Guatemala.
• But his timing was not good enough to ensure a spot in the semi-finals as according to the rules, only the group winners and the three best losers from the first round could progress.
• This 22-year-old, an MA student at Delhi University, will take part at middle-distance running at the Paralympics with his partner Vipin Kumar, a student of Nagpur University. 

Thangavelu Strikes Gold, Bhati Gets Bronze In Paralympics

Mariyappan Thangavelu became only the third Indian ever to clinch a Paralympic gold, while Varun Bhati secured a bronze as the duo scripted history for the country in the men’s T42 high jump event of the Rio Games.

• The 21-year-old Thangavelu, who was merely five-years-old when his right leg was crushed by a speeding bus while he was on his way to school, joined Murlikant Petkar (1972, swimming) and Devendra Jhajharia (2004, javelin throw) in the Indian Paralympics gold club.
• Thangavelu won the yellow metal with his best jump of 1.89 metres, while Bhati’s best effort of 1.86m fetched him the bronze.
• The silver medal in this event went to USA’s Sam Grewe who also registered the same mark of 1.86 metres.
• In the later stages with the contest being reduced to only three competitors, Bhati set the tone with a jump of 1.83m mark along with Thagavelu.However, just when it looked like India would fetch an gold and a silver, the American cleared 1.86m to grab the top spot but the Indians also equalled the height to make it even.
• Following Paralympian athlete T Mariyappan’s spectacular performance at the Rio Paralympics in Brazil, which fetched him the gold medal at the High Jump event, TN CM Jayalalithaa has announced a cash reward of Rs. 2 crore for the athlete. 

Archer Pooja Khanna finishes ranking round in 29th place

Indian archer Pooja Khanna has finished the ranking round at the 29th spot with a total of 513 points in the Women’s Individual Recurve event of the Rio Paralympics Games in Brazil. Pooja is a lone representative from India in archery event.

• She started the event with a total of 47 points from her first six arrows. In the fifth and sixth series, she only managed to score 41 points with scores of 9, 7, 7, 7, 6 and 5 in the fifth series and 9, 8, 8, 7, 6 and 6 points in her sixth series respectively.
• Pooja will now face the 4th placed Poland’s Milena Olszewska who finished with 619 points in the round of 32.

Vietnam wins first-ever Paralympic gold, breaks world record

Paralympic weightlifter Le Van Cong’s final attempt in the men’s 49kg paralympic weightlifting competition made history for Vietnam as he secured the country’s first ever paraylympic gold medal at the 2016 Rio Paralympics in Brazil.

• Cong became the first-ever Vietnamese athlete to snatch a Paralympic gold medal as he finished the competition with a new world record of 183kg.
• Silver medalist Omar Qarada from Jordan finished far behind, with a lift of only 177kg. The bronze medal went to Hungarian Nandor Tunkel, who lifted 155kg. 

Deepa Malik becomes 1st Indian woman Paralympic medallist

India’s Deepa Malik, a wheelchair-bound athlete, etched her name in the record books by winning silver in the shot-put F-53 category at the Rio Paralympics. She is the first Indian women to win medal.She will receive a cash award of Rs 4 crore under the Haryana Sports Scheme for her feat.

• Bahrain’s Fatema Nedham won gold with a best throw of 4.76m, while Dimitra Korokida of Greece bagged bronze with a throw of 4.28m. 

Devendra Jhajharia wins gold medal in javelin throw at 2016 Rio Paralympics

India’s Devendra Jhajharia bettered his own world record to win gold in the men’s javelin throw F46 event at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.

• Mr Jhajharia won gold in the javelin event at the 2004 Athens Paralympics with a record throw of 62.15 metres, becoming only the second gold medalist at the Paralympics for his country, and improved upon it with an attempt of 63.97 metres.
• Devendra Jhajharia was eight years old, growing up in a village in Rajasthan, when he climbed up a tree and was electrocuted by a cable that had become trapped within its branches. Part of his left arm was amputated, and his one-time playmates mocked him when he tried to join in their games afterwards.
• Rajasthan government announced to give a cash reward of Rs. 25 lakh, a plot in the state capital and a piece of land along Indira Gandhi canal to javalin thrower Devendra Jhajharia for winning gold medal at the Paralympics in Rio.

New Zealand ‘blade runner’ breaks Oscar Pistorius’ Paralympic Games record  

New Zealand sprinter Liam Malone broke the men’s 200-metre T44 Paralympic Games record held by South Africa’s Oscar Pistorius.

• The 22-year-old, who won gold in the event, registered a timing of 21.06 seconds, beating Pistorius’ record by 0.24 seconds.
• This was Malone’s second Paralympic medal after having won the silver medal in the 100-metre sprint.

An Iranian Para-cyclist has died after a crash during the men’s C4-5 road race at the Rio Paralympics.

The Iranian flag has been lowered to half-mast in the Paralympic Village and a period of silence will be observed during Sunday’s closing ceremony.

• Golbarnezhad’s death is the first in competition at a summer Olympics or Paralympics since Danish cyclist Knud Enemark Jensen in the 100km team time trial at the 1960 Rome Olympics.
• He was an exemplary Paralympic sportsman who, with love and energy, tried his best to promote the name of Iran and to make all of us proud and at the end he gave his life for this.

List of the Indian Paralympians – 2016