IANS
Chennai, Sept 10: Twenty-two-year-old golden boy Mariyappan Thangavelu is a shy and reserved guy, but when it came to training he was extremely disciplined and braved wounds in his handicapped leg informed his coach K Elamparithi here Thursday.
Thangavelu jump 1.89 metres to put his Periyavadagampatti village in Salem district in Tamil Nadu on the global map. With the golden leap he also took a giant step forward to eradicate the poverty his family has been languishing in for decades. Thangavelu has two younger brothers and an elder sister. His mother Saroja is a daily wage earner.
Congratulating Thangavelu on his achievement, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa announced a cash award of rupees two crore for the golden boy. “He always used to say that he should achieve something in life despite his handicap. He used to participate in all sports,” Srinivasan, a friend of Thangavelu told this news agency.
A holder of Bachelor’s in Business Administration (BBA) degree, Thangavelu is yet to get a proper job. He lost one of his legs at the age of five while playing outside his house when a state owned bus crushed it.
“He was participating and winning in school and inter-collegiate events. I changed his high jump technique to Finsbury Flop from Belly Roll. After that his performances improved,” Elamparithi said.
“We were sure of him winning a medal based on the height cleared by high jumpers in the earlier editions of the Paralympics. In the local level events he was regularly clearing a height of two metres,” he added.
Speaking about the training schedule of his student Elamparithi informed that whenever Thangavelu trained for long periods, his wound used to open up. “I’ve never seen anyone endure so much pain. But he never skipped training because of pain or for any other reason,” stated Elamparithi. “He has always been punctual and disciplined.”
