Javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia, who won three Paralympic medals, met PM Modi along with other medalists from Tokyo. He shared a story of his struggle during the 2004 Athens Paralympics.
Tokyo Paralympics India’s best performance in its 53-year history. India had earlier won 12 medals in 53 years but in Tokyo alone India had 19 medals. One of the medals was that of javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia. This was his third Paralympic medal. Prior to this, he had also won gold medals in 2004 Athens and 2016 Rio.
Although this time he won not only gold but silver, but still this medal was very special for him. This was his third Paralympic medal.
The country’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi met all the medalists of the Tokyo Paralympics. Whose video was released today on the official Twitter handle of PM Modi. In this video, Devendra Jhajharia was also seen expressing his gratitude to PM Modi and he also shared a story which was from the 2004 Athens Paralympics.
History created in Athens by selling mother’s deep
Devendra Jhajharia, who won the silver medal in Tokyo Paralympics, said, ‘Sir, first of all, greetings to you from my daughter Jia. We arrived in Tokyo with the encouragement you gave and the family you talked to before leaving for Tokyo. With the same spirit we went to the ground, with the same spirit we played and with the same spirit we won the medal.
Jhajharia, who won the gold medal twice in the Paralympic Games, further said, ‘Today I will narrate an anecdote from the 2004 Athens Paralympics in front of you. Sir in 2004, I was a college student, at that time I had managed money by selling mother’s jewelry to go to the Athens Paralympics. Then I won the gold and I was happy.
‘Who are the three people behind that player’
Devendra further told another anecdote, he said, ‘There was a player in Athens itself and there were three people behind him. I asked someone who else are the three people behind that player. So he told me coach, physio and fitness trainer. There I was alone. But in Tokyo I also had my coach, physio and fitness trainer with me. So we can say this is changing India.
The Tokyo medalist also said, ‘My dream was not to win a medal in just one Olympics. I wanted to win medals many times, wanted to make hat-trick. Barley I did in Tokyo and I am happy and very proud too.