Famous Personalities Of India Like Devendra Jhajharia
Devendra Jhajharia is a talented and dedicated athlete who is a javelin thrower and he has made a world record in his first go when he threw for 62.15 meters. This is not it, he even won another gold medal in the Paralympic and he became the first Indian athlete to achieve two gold medals. His new record is 63.7 meters that he made after breaking his record of 62.15 meters.
Devendra was born on 10th June 1981 in the Churu district of Rajasthan, India. His father Ram Singh is a farmer and his mother Jivani Devi is a homemaker. In 2007, He got married to a national-level kabaddi player Manju Jhajharia who is the biggest support system for him during all his tough times. In Devendra's childhood, there was an incident due to which he lost his left hand. It happened when he was just eight years old and he was trying to climb a tree and by mistake, he touched an electrical cable of 11,000 volts. Everyone gathered there and Devendra was unconscious by then, villagers declared him dead. He was taken to the hospital where he gained his conscious back but his left hand was burnt till then and doctors had to amputate his left hand.
“The normal kids did not want to play with me so I took up a sport and decided to do better than them.” - Devendra Jhajharia
Devendra did not let his disability come in his way of sports even he was thriving in it day by day. He used to take part in his school events and used to win a lot of prizes as well. In 1997, he was participating in one of his school events and coach R.D. Singh was present there he noticed his amazing talent and decided to train him for the bigger level competitions. This training was so helpful for him to enhance his talent and to do something big in the sports world. In sports, we have an F46 classification which is a platform for athletes with disabilities to showcase their talent and skills. He decided to take part in national level games when he won a district-level championship. Devendra's international journey was started in 2002 when he won a gold medal at the Far East and South Pacific Games held at South Korea, he was just 21 then. In 2008 and 2012 he tried to enter Paralympics games but his category wasn't included. These years came with disappointment for him. His wife always supported him and stood with him to give him the motivation that he needed to keep trying. In 2013 he participated in IPC World Championship at Lyon and continued his streak for winning gold. In 2014, Devendra took part in Asian Para Games in Incheon, Korea and grabbed another silver medal. IPC World Championship was back by then in Doha, Qatar in the year 2015 and it brought him another silver medal.
Finally, In 2016 he created history when he participated in Rio Paralympics and his first attempt he won gold and also became the famous athlete to represent India in Rio. Devendra created a world record of 63.97 meters by breaking his previous record of 62.15 meters. For this Paralympics Devendra was working very hard. Before the games, he took training for a few months at Kuortane. Devendra was also awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award for his amazing performance in Rio. Devendra is also a part of the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). There is a Gosport foundation that helped Devendra in its para champion program. They provided him equipment for Javelin that used to break a lot of times while playing or practicing and that equipment is pretty expensive. Devendra used to work with Indian Railways earlier and now he is working with the Sports Authority of India. He also wants to train the upcoming para-athletes as he dreams of a better recognition for athletes like him. He has also appeared in the famous TV show Comedy Nights with Kapil with his family. List of Devendra's achievement is not less he has also received Arjuna Award in 2004 and Padma Shri award in 2012.
Devendra has proved that disability is just a state of mind. He showed his hard work and dedication to achieve the recognition that he deserved. He also wants other para-athletes to get the recognition that they deserve, he wants that they should get at least some attention and recognition as a normal athlete gets.
