DETERMINED TOWARD giving her best at the upcoming World Para Athletics Championships 2017, Deepa Malik is our topic of focus in the build up to the major event.
Born in Haryana, Deepa’s story is one of the sheer guts to be able to achieve one’s target come what may.
In the year 1999, she had a tumor successfully removed from her spine when she was only 6 years of age. But the cancer had returned and that she would require three spinal operations. She had been warned that she may not be able to walk again, and this proved to be true as she woke up paralyzed from the waist down. Following surgery, she had a total of 183 stitches between her shoulder blades.
She was left paralyzed from the waist down and the doctors told her that she would never walk again. What the doctors didn't know is that Deepa Malik wasn't any ordinary woman. Giving up was not her style. She decided to become a swimmer, a biker, an athlete & an adventure junkie. And all this at the age of 36!
Now, aged 46, she is the first Indian woman to win a medal at the Paralympics at Rio 2016. For her extraordinary achievement, the Government of Haryana announced a prize money of 4 Crore and 50 lakhs from Ministry of youth affairs & sports for the silver medal won at Rio Paralympics in Shot Put F-53.
Watch a short video of Deepa's life and the insipration she brings for all