It was around 3 am, Indian Standard Time, in September 2016 when the F46* javelin throw final of the Paralympic Games were underway in Rio ...
It was around 3 am, Indian Standard Time, in September 2016 when the F46* javelin throw final of the Paralympic Games were underway in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It would prove to be one of the greatest sporting moments in Indian history as Devendra Jhajharia won his second Paralympics gold medal. No Indian had ever managed to win more than one gold medal (individual events) at the Olympics / Paralympics before that night.
We will get back to those moments in a bit. Before that, context.
The memories of the Rio Olympic Games were largely disappointing from an Indian point of view. The largest contingent that had ever been sent to the Olympic Games had managed to win two medals: Sakshi Malik (wrestling, bronze) and PV Sindhu (badminton, silver) had salvaged some pride for India in Brazil, because otherwise it was a case of close misses for athletes and embarrassing moments for the officials.
And after the media mayhem that usually accompanies any Olympic Games campaign, things were starting to die down. Sakshi and Sindhu were celebrated for their gritty performances but elsewhere, there was only disappointment and finger-pointing as the country wondered what went wrong in Rio.
Back to those wee hours on the September night (14th in India, still 13th in Brazil), an...
