The Paralympics winners were given their sum of money but not appreciation! Where on the one hand, athletes like Sakshi Malik and P.V. Sindhu were appreciated, regarded and admired to no end. But the fact does not change; the appreciation given to para-athletes by the Country was very disappointing.
“Gold medalists of #Paralympic Games are entitled to Rs. 75 Lakhs, Silver Rs. 50 Lakhs and Bronze Rs. 30 Lakhs as cash award from MYAS. This cash award to the #Paralympic medalists is at par with medalists of #Olympics.” Says the entire tweet of the official Twitter handle of the Sports Ministry.
India sent 14 athletes which include, Pooja (archery), Mariyappan Thangavelu (high jump,) Varun Singh Bhati (high jump,) Sharad Kumar (high jump,) Rampal Chahar (high jump,) Sundar Singh Gurjar (javelin,) Devendra Jhajaria (javelin,) Rinku (javelin,) Narender Ranbir (javelin,) Sandeep (javelin,, Amit Kumar Saroha (club,) Deepa Malik (shot put,) Dharambir (club,) Ankur Dhama (1500 meters,) Basha Farman (powerlifting,) Suyash Narayan Jadhav (swimming,) Naresh Kumar Sharma (shooting.) Till 2004, a small majority of people actually knew about the Paralympics and the scenario was very different says Jhajharia. He also says he had trained and worked way harder for the 2016 Paralympics and was thankful to the ‘GoSports Foundation’ for the help provided to Para Athletes.
“Initially the desire, the dream to participate and win a medal at the Paralympics didn’t allow us to sleep, and now this medal, the appreciation and responsibility that’s come with it won’t let us sleep,” says Malik.
These brave athletes were called up by the famous comedian Kapil Sharma on his show called ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’ on Sony TV. This will bring the necessary awareness badly needed for our Parlympians.
