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Javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia has revealed that a “deal” with his six-year-old daughter propelled him to win a record second gold medal at the Paralympics.
Jiya, who would accompany Jhajaria to training in Rajasthan, struck a deal with her father that if she topped in the lower kindergarten exam, he would have to win a gold in Paralympics.
Devendra stayed awake whole night and kept talking to his family and well wishers till 5am in Rio.
Devendra’s world record throw of 63.97 metres came in his third attempt as it bettered his own mark of 62.15m that he had produced for his maiden gold at the Athens Paralympics in 2004.
Till then, Murlikant Petkar was the only Indian with an individual gold in Paralympics, while shooter Abhinav Bindra won an individual gold in Beijing Olympics four years later.
It was a long wait for the the 35-year-old who did not feature in the previous two Paralympics with the event missing from the Games program.
Devendra falls under F46 classification which denotes F for field events and the number 45-47 is for upper limb(s) deficiency, impaired muscle power or impaired range of movement.
To keep himself in shape and injury free during this period, the Indian followed an intensive training as he rarely visited home, a small village in Churu district of Rajasthan.
So much so that his two-year-old son Kavyan does not even recognise his father.
Before Paralympics, he trained from April-July in Kuortane, Finland, where he became friends with Kenyan thrower Julius Yego, whom he calls one of his biggest motivators.
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