Who was the first Indian woman to win a medal at the Paralympic Games?

Deepa Malik became the first Indian woman to win a medal at the Paralympic Games when she won the silver medal in the women's shot put (F53 category) at the Rio 2016 Paralympics in Brazil, with a throw of 4.61 metres.

About Deepa Malik:

• She was born in 1970 in Haryana, into an Army family.
• In 1999, a spinal tumour left her paralysed from the waist down, and she has used a wheelchair since then.

She took up sports in her 30s. Besides shot put, she has competed in javelin, discus, swimming and motor rallying, and holds several records in the Limca Book of Records, such as for driving long distances in high-altitude regions.

She was awarded the Arjuna Award (2012), the Padma Shri (2017) and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (now the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna) in 2019, becoming the first woman para-athlete to receive the Khel Ratna.

She later became the President of the Paralympic Committee of India (2020).

Important note: Deepa Malik was not the first Indian para-athlete to win a Paralympic medal. That honour goes to Murlikant Petkar, who won India's first Paralympic medal, a gold in swimming (50 m freestyle), at the 1972 Heidelberg Paralympics. Petkar was a soldier who was wounded in the 1965 war. He received the Padma Shri in 2018.

Other Indian Paralympic stars:

• Devendra Jhajharia: two gold medals in javelin (2004 and 2016).
• Mariyappan Thangavelu: gold in high jump (2016).
• Avani Lekhara: the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic gold medal (shooting, Tokyo 2020), and she won gold again at Paris 2024.
• Bhavina Patel: silver in table tennis at Tokyo 2020.
• India won 19 medals at Tokyo 2020 and a record 29 medals at Paris 2024.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Avani Lekhara was the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic gold (2021).
• ✗Bhavina Patel won silver in table tennis in 2021.
• ✗Mariyappan Thangavelu is a man; he won high jump gold in 2016.