Devendra Jhajharia won Gold at IPC Athletics World Championships

Devendra Jhajharia on 21 July 2013 became the first differently-abled Indian to win gold at the IPC Athletics World Championships (19 to 28 July 2013) in France. He bagged the gold medal in javelin throw event at Rhone Stadium in Lyon. He threw the javelin to 57.04 meters in F-46 category, which is meant for one-armed athletes.

The silver medal was captured by Mirshekari Abdolrasoul of Iran and the bronze medal was won by Ismail Mahmoud of Egypt.

The championships has been organised by the International Paralympics Committee.  With this win, India now stands at 19th Position in the medal tally. A 10-member contingent represented India in the Championships. PCI has announced a cash reward of 5 lakh rupees for Jhajharia and the Sultan Ahmed, President of Paralympics Committee of India announced that he would be felicitated on his return to the country.  

IPC Athletics World Championships 2013
About 1000 athletes from 100 countries have participated in the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships at Lyon, France. This is the largest gathering of the international differently-abled athlete, after 2012 London Paralympic Games.

About Devendra Jhajharia
• Devendra Jhajharia is a one-armed javelin thrower from Churu District of Rajasthan, who won a gold medal in the Javelin throw event at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens.
• He is the second gold medalist at the Paralympics after Murlikant Petkar
• At Athens he managed to create a new world record of 62.15 meter throw by eclipsing the previous record of 59.77 meter
• He won a Gold medal at the 8th FESPIC Games in Korea, 2002
• In March 2012, he received the Padma Shree Award and became the first paralympian to win the award