From being a newspaper hawker to a Khel Ratna, it has been quite a ride for Paralympic gold-medallist Mariyappan Thangavelu, who still gets goosebumps thinking about the life he endured before sport changed it in more ways than one.
The 25-year-old, who won a men’s high jump gold in the Rio Paralympics, is among the five athletes picked for the country’s highest sporting honour this year. Thangavelu still cannot believe how far he has come after suffering permanent disability at the age of five when a bus crushed his right leg below the knee. (Source: SAI)