It was the historical moment for India early on Saturday morning, when Mariyappan Thangavelu clinched the gold medal in men's high jump T-42 and Varun Singh Bhati won the bronze.

Thangavelu made history by becoming the first Indian high-jumper to win a gold at the Paralympics, with a leap of 1.89 metres. Bhati jumped his personal best of 1.86 metres to finish third.

After Thangavelu and Bhati's feat, India's overall medal tally in all Paralympic Games has reached 10 - three golds, three silvers and four bronze. At the 2012 Paralympics, HN Girisha became the first Indian high-jumper to win a medal.

The NDTV reported, Gursharan Singh, vice-president of the Paralympic Committee of India, said that, "We have very good chance in javelin throw in F-46 and F-47 categories. We expect a gold or silver or bronze. We will create new record at these Games."

"These Games will be our best ever performance. We know how we performed in the Olympics and now you will see how we perform in Paralympics. We all know the facilities given to Olympians and how many medals they got and we will see how our Paralympians perform."

The Hindu reported,  a bus accident left Thangavelu with a permanent disability at the age of five. He was going to school when the bus took a wrong turn and ran over Thangavelu's right leg, damaging it below knee. While Bronze medal winner Bhati was diagnosed with polio at a very young age as one of his legs got deformed. Despite the difficulty, Bhati went on to become a champion athlete.

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Nandini