NEW DELHI, July 22: India’s first blade runner Retd Major Devender Pal Singh today led a group of amputee athletes to put on their running shoes in honour of the Kargil War’s Heroes as part of the ‘Vijay Diwas’ celebrations.
The run started from India Gate this morning and went past the Pragati Maidan before coming back to the starting point.
Celebrated on July 26, ‘Vijay Diwas’ commemorates the success of the Indian defence forces in ‘Operation Vijay’, known as the Kargil War.
The event ‘Salute and Run’ was organised jointly by a group — Indian Army Fans — from the social networking site Facebook, and an NGO for helping Indian amputees called ‘the Challenging Ones’, founded by Major D P Singh.
Singh was injured in the July of 1999 when an enemy mortar exploded just a meter away from him during the peak of the Kargil War. After three days of flirting with death, his right leg had to be amputated below his knee as gangrene set in.
“When doctors told me about the amputation, the first thing I told myself was now I will show the world how disabled people live. It was difficult for me to even walk initially. But over the last decade or so, I prepared myself to start running in order to inspire others,” said Singh.
Singh is one of the country’s first runner to compete with the fiber blade prosthetic leg, similar to the one made famous by South African amputee runner Oscar Pistorius.
Also present at the event were parents of Kargil martyr Capt Anuj Nayyer, recipient of second highest gallantry award in the Indian Armed Forces and noted para-athlete Deepa Malik, winner of many international medals in events such as swimming, shot-put and javelin. (PTI)
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