I never gave up Deepa Malik

Deepa Malik won silver in the Shot Put - F53 event at the 2016 Rio Parlympics Games, becoming the first Indian woman to win a medal at the Games. She talks to Liam Dias about her time in Rio.

- The Teenager Today

In 1999, when Deepa Malik walked into an operation theatre she knew that she will come out paralysed chest down. Her husband was fighting in the Kargil War and they had two daughters to look after, one of them physically challenged.

“I had undergone three tumour surgeries and had about 200 stitches between my shoulder blades, when the doctors said that I had to have an operation that is going to leave me paralyzed for life. I prepared myself for the operation. After the procedure, sleeping on the hospital bed, all tubed up is when I decided I’m going to transform my disability into an ability,” she told THE TEENAGER TODAY.

Malik, who is an Asian record holder (parathletes) in women’s javelin throw, says she’s not that changed as a person since her operation in 1999, it’s just that she’s learnt more about life and the importance of sports.

And she did just that. How?

“I was in the army hospital. When I looked around me, there were all war heroes. I thought that I have medical condition which has brought me here, but these guys have actually risked their life fighting for our nation. How could you not be inspired by them?”

But it wasn’t just that. “It was the fight for survival,” she says. “I was single handedly looking after two children. I didn’t know if my husband would even come back from the war. I wasn’t given an option. I had to be a fighter,” she says.

Deepa also finds her name in the Limca book of records for crossing a 1-km stretch of the Yamuna river against the current in 2008.

“You just have to be positive. Life is a festival that you need to celebrate every day,” she says.

Deepa, while the whole of India is proud of your achievement in the Paralympics, your journey to the tournament was quite eventful…