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Question 31 of 325 · Sports
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Who was the first Indian to win a gold medal at the Paralympic Games?

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Answer: Option D — Murlikant Petkar

Detailed Solution

Murlikant Petkar won India's first-ever Paralympic gold medal at the 1972 Heidelberg Paralympics in West Germany. He won the men's 50 m freestyle swimming event in the 3 category, setting a world record of 37.33 seconds. This was also India's first medal of any kind at the Paralympics.

📌 Remember

Some exam books wrongly name Mariyappan Thangavelu as the first Indian Paralympic gold medallist. Mariyappan won gold in the high jump at Rio 2016, which was India's first high jump gold, but India's first Paralympic gold came much earlier, from Petkar in 1972.

About Murlikant Petkar:

He was born in 1944 in Sangli district, Maharashtra.

He was a boxer in the Indian Army (Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers). During the 1965 India-Pakistan war, he was hit by several bullets in an attack in Sialkot, which left him partly paralysed.

During rehabilitation, he took up swimming and other sports.

He received the Padma Shri in 2018.

His life story was shown in the Hindi film "Chandu Champion" (2024), starring Kartik Aaryan.

Other Indian Paralympic stars:

  • Joginder Singh Bedi: won three medals (one silver and two bronze) at the 1984 Paralympics.
  • Devendra Jhajharia: the first Indian with two Paralympic golds (javelin, 2004 and 2016).
  • Mariyappan Thangavelu: gold in high jump (2016).
  • Deepa Malik: the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic medal (silver, 2016).
  • Avani Lekhara: the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic gold (2021), and gold again in 2024.
  • India won 19 medals at Tokyo 2020 and a record 29 medals at Paris 2024.

The Paralympic Games began in 1960 in Rome. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has its headquarters in Bonn, Germany.

Why not the other options?

  • ✗Mariyappan Thangavelu won high jump gold in 2016.
  • ✗Devendra Jhajharia won javelin golds in 2004 and 2016.
  • ✗Joginder Singh Bedi won three medals in 1984.

Quick tip

Remember: First Indian Paralympic gold (and first medal) = Murlikant Petkar (swimming, Heidelberg 1972; film "Chandu Champion"); first woman medal = Deepa Malik (2016); first woman gold = Avani Lekhara (2021).

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Sports — Preparation

This question tests your understanding of Sports, a key topic in the General Knowledge section. The detailed solution above uses a step-by-step approach to show the reasoning, and where available, a shortcut that helps you solve similar questions in under 90 seconds during the actual exam.

This topic covers sports GK: major tournaments and their venues, trophies and cups associated with each sport, sports terms, the number of players in a team, sports awards in India, Olympic and Asian Games facts, and famous sportspersons and their achievements. Common questions ask which sport a trophy belongs to (such as the Durand Cup for football or the Ranji Trophy for cricket), which term is used in which sport, and where a tournament was held. Records and results change after every season, so pair static facts such as team sizes and terms with recent results from current affairs. Practise the sports questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.

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