Kudos to Girisha: Bags Silver at London Paralympics

Bangalore: Girisha Hosanagara Nagarajegowda once again gave the Indian tri-colour a reason to fly high in the sky. A silver in the Men's High Jump F42 event is what Karnataka's Girisha bagged as its first medal at the ongoing Paralympic games in London. Born on the Republic Day, 1988, the son of a daily wage labourer has impairment in his left leg but cleared his career-best height of 1.74m using the scissors technique in the final event to finish second.

Athletes competing in the F42 class are affected with impairment either in their arms or legs. Girisha quit his bank job and along with his hard work, dedication, focus and vision competed with the gold winner, Iliesa Delena of Fiji and the bronze winner, Lukasz Mamecarz of Poland. His count began with 1.60m, raised to 1.65 and 1.68 but staggered at 1.71m. Nagarajegowda is the third Indian after javelin thrower Bhimrao Kesarkar and shot put thrower Joginder Singh Bedi both of whom claimed silver at 1984 Paralympics.

Girisha was supported by Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled, which led him to win a medal in an international meet in Kuwait and bag one more in the Malaysian Para meet. Mahantesh G Kivandasnnavar, founder of the Samarthanam Trust, praised Nagarajegowda and exclaimed, "It is a big moment for us and the whole of India and more importantly the community of disability," as reported by the IBNLive. He gave India a reason to rejoice after a depressing first week by the shooters and swimmers at the Paralympic games.

Union Sports Minister, Ajay Maken, honoured Nagarajegowda with 30 lakh cash award. Maken tweeted, "Paralympic Medal Winners also to get cash awards of same amount as Olympics. 50 lacs Gold, 30 Silver and 20 Bronze. Nagaraj gets 30 lacs!,"as reported by msn.

Nagarajegowda paid homage to Olympians Sahana Kumari and Sushil Kumar for being the source of motivation for him. His heroic feet proved that he is at par with his fellow medal winners for India at the London Olympics.