Deepa Malik

Deepa Malik is an Indian athlete and the first Indian woman to win any medal in Paralympic Games. Wife of an army man, a restaurateur, former beauty queen, accomplished swimmer and a biker, Deepa Malik has been actively playing many roles since years and she created history after winning a Silver medal in shot put at the 2016 Summer Paralympics. She has also been associated with the Himalayan Motorsports Association (HMA) and Federation of Motor Sports Club of India (FMSCI) and has also participated in Raid De Himalayas where she undertook an 8 day drive of 1700 km in sub zero temperatures and also climbed 18000 feet. Previously, she has also won a bronze medal in women’s javelin throw. She was the first paraplegic to participate in Raid De Himalayas. She is included in the list of Top 10 Inspiring Sports Personalities of India.

Born on 30^th September 1970 in Sonipat district of Haryana, Malik is the daughter of veteran Infantry Colonel BK Nagpal. She is married to an army man, Bikram Singh Malik. It was in 1999 when Deepa came to know about the spinal tumour and was paralyzed from waist down. At the same time, his husband was called by the army for the Kargil War. Deepa was struggling with her tumors and she underwent three spinal tumor surgeries and 183 stitches between shoulder blades. After being paralyzed from waist down, she had to go to serious physiotherapy and also felt depressed at the beginning. However, her family gave her a huge support and she started to participate in many adventurous sports. Later she started to participate in swimming competitions and has won several medals at the international competitions. In 2008, she made the record after swimming in river Yamuna for 1 km against the current in Allahabad. Apart from swimming, Malik started to participate in several other sports as well and started to play sports like shot put, motor sports etc. she has also won a bronze in women's Javelin throw. She has more than 18 international medals in her name and in 2009 she made a record by riding special bike. In 2011, she became the first woman in the world in her disability to drive across nine high altitude passes in nine days in Leh Ladakh. In 2013, she made another record after driving the longest pan-India drive of 3278 Kilometers from Chennai to Delhi. In 2016, she impressed everyone in the country as well as in the world after winning the silver medal in Shot Put at Rio Olympics 2016. She became the first Indian woman to win a medal at the Paralympics. For her win at the Paralympics, she was awarded by the Government of Haryana and she received 4 crore rupees and received another 50 lakh rupees from the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

Deepa Malik is married to veteran cavalier Colonel Bikram Singh and the couple has two daughters Ambika and Devika. Deepa, apart from sports also runs a successful restaurant by the name Dee’s Place in Ahmed Nagar. She also holds many records and rankings and in 2010-12 she had the 1^st Asian ranking in all three throws and she ranked 2^nd in Shot-put and 3^rd in Javelin throw around the world. She also holds all the three national records in S-1 Swimming category of back stroke, breast stroke and free style. She also holds national records in Discuss throw, javelin throw and Shot-put in F-53 category. She also holds an official IPC Asian Records in Javelin F-53 Category for which she was felicitated by Milkha Singh and PT Usha. She has also been a recipient of many awards and recipients in her career. She won the Swabhiman Puruskar Maharashtra award in 2006 and later in 2008 she was awarded the Haryana Karambhoomi Award. She has also been a recipient of the 2009 - 10 Maharashtra Chhatrapati Sports Award. In 2012, she was felicitated with the Arjuna Award and she received the President Role Model award in 2014. In 2013, she had the honour of being a part of the grid and national anthem ceremony at the flag off of the Formula-1 Race at Buddh International Circuit.