ANSWER: Mariyappan Thangavelu
Explanation:
Mariyappan Thangvelu won the first gold medal for India at the 2016 Rio Paralympics.
- He won gold in the men’s high jump T-42 event leaping 1.89 metres
- He also became the first Indian high jumper to win gold at the Paralympics
- This was India’s third gold at the Games and the first after 12 years
- Bronze in the event went to Varun Singh Bhati who jumped 1.86 metres(his personal best) to finish third
- USA’s Sam Grewe bagged the silver medal
- India claimed a gold and bronze in Athens, 2004
- In the last edition of the London Games, India won a silver
- India won its first ever Paralympic Gold at the Heidelberg Games in 1972.
