Vishakha Bhatia
On Monday, 11th September 2016, Deepa Malik made Indians proud with her achievement. Indian wheelchair-bound athlete, Deepa Malik etched her name in the record books by winning a silver medal in the shot-put F-53 category at the Rio Paralympics. She’s the first ever Indian woman to win a medal.
She’s our inspiration who never let her disability deter her passion for adventure sports. She’s an award-winning athlete, a record-breaking swimmer, a biker at heart and the one who is living her dream despite the odds.
Deepa is an avid biker and has joined he Himalayan Motorsports Association (H.M.A) and Federation of Motor Sports Clubs of India (F.M.S.C.I). She’s has achieved extraordinary things in her life but, success did not come easily to her. With her excellence in biking, she started her new passion – swimming. She started swimming to strengthen her shoulders so that she could perform gracefully in biking.
For her record-breaking swimming, the lady had won the Arjuna Award in the year 2012. Interestingly, she has 13 international medals and 54 national gold medals in various sports including shot put, javelin throw, and swimming.
In fact, her name is registered four times in the Limca Book of Records for her adventure sports achievements. She has a customised bike for her tough bike journeys. Some of her biking journeys include crossing a km stretch of the Yamuna River against the current in 2008, doing the longest pan-India drive by the paraplegic women in 2013, and driving across nine high altitudes on the Ladakh’s highest motor roads.
The lady has won nation’s heart with her determination and love for sports. She’s living her dream with happiness. Team WSL congratulates her and wishes best for her!
