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Rio Paralympics 2016: Mariyappan Thangavelu creates history, wins gold; Varun Singh Bhati clinches bronze in High Jump

With Mariyappan Thangavelu's gold medal, India has now won three gold medal in the Paralympics. Earlier Murlikant Petkar and Devendra Jhajharia won gold medal at Paralympics in 1972 and 2004 respectively.

Published: September 10, 2016 8:30 AM IST

By India.com Sports Desk

Rio Paralympics 2016: Mariyappan Thangavelu creates history, wins gold; Varun Singh Bhati clinches bronze in High Jump

Rio de Janerio, Sep 10: India’s Mariyappan Thangavelu created history on Saturday morning by winning a gold medal in the men’s high jump T-42 event at the Rio Paralympics. His compatriot Varun Singh Bhati clinched the bronze medal the same event. While Thangavelu made a leap of 1.89 metres, Bhati jumped his personal best of 1.86 metres to finish third. India’s other medal prospect Sharad Kumar finished at number six. USA’s Sam Grewe bagged the silver medal. With Mariyappan Thangavelu’s gold medal, India has now won three gold medal in the Paralympics. Earlier Murlikant Petkar and Devendra Jhajharia won gold medal at Paralympics in 1972 and 2004 respectively.

In Men’s High Jump T42, Mariyappan Thangavelu won gold medal with best jump of 1.89m. Varun Singh Bhati got bronze medal with the jump of 1.86m. However India’s Sharad Kumar failed to perform as per the expectations. Sharad Kumar gave India a good start clearing a height of 1.55 and 1.60 metres respectively in his third and fourth attempt. Sharad Kumar was displaced at the top by Egypt’s Hamada Hassan who cleared 1.65 metres in his first attempt. Kumar bounced back clearing 1.65 metres in his fifth attempt. (ALSO READ: Rio Paralympics 2016: Here is all that you need to know about the history of India’s performance at the Paralympics)

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Meanwhile, Varun Singh Bhati cleared the 1.65 mark on his fifth attempt which saw him tied at the first spot with Sharad Kumar and three other jumpers. While Bhati could clear a height of 1.68 metres in his sixth attempt, Kumar failed to do so. Mariyappan Thangavelu and Bhati continued to clear heights successfully till 1.77m. However it was Mariyappan who ended up being the only high jumper to clear the next 1.80 metres mark after the tenth attempt. Bhati also cleared 1.80m and got second position.

Both Mariyappan Thangavelu and Varun Singh Bhati cleared 1.83m height giving hope that the top two medal would go in India’s bag. But USA’s Sam Grewe cleared a height of 1.86 metres and grabbed the first position. At last, it was Mariyappan who could only clear the height of 1.89 meter wining gold at Paralympics.

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