Salem: Mariyappan, who won the gold medal at the Rio Paralymics, met with a road accident at the age of 5 and his right leg was cut off for seven inches.
When he was 10 years old, the family though of committing suicide due to poverty. It was Mariyappan, who persuaded his family to live, promising to achieve in life and make them happy. Neither poverty nor his handicap could stop him from achieving glory.
Although, his right leg was cut off, he had wings of confidence and hard work to fly to the top. His mother Saroja, is the most elated over his son’s golden jump of 1.89 metres, a world record and said Mariyappan had beaten poverty to reach soaring heights. She said, “I have four children including Mariyappan.
My husband Thangavel separated from the family many years ago and we eked out living by working at a brick kiln industry. As I had heart ailments due to hard work, I switched to selling vegetables”.
