Paralympic India President Deepa Malik wins Asian Order award

Leading Paralympic India towards a brighter future with her expert supervision, President Dr. Deepa Malik was conferred with the Asian Order award at the annual Asian Awards 2021.

With the Tokyo Paralympics being a gigantic success for the Indian contingent with para-athletes returning with as many as 19 Paralympic medals from their Tokyo sojourn - Deepa Malik played a pivotal role as President of Paralympic India to make this kind of showing and result possible, in the first place.

Alongside Dr. Deepa Malik, the Asian Award was also won by Lesley Fung, APC Games & Sport Development Committee Chair and Zhao Sujing, APC & NPC China Vice President.

"Sports is the biggest medium of bringing about a positive change in the society and I want to continue to align with the vision of APC to promote para-sports, to create accessibility, and also change mindsets and empower people with disability through sports," Deepa Malik said in a video-message, accepting the prestigious award.

Other than Deepa Malik, Bhavina Patel, the silver medallist paddler from the Paralympic Games and Sumit Antil, the gold medallist para-javelin athlete was also nominated in the Best Female and Best Male athlete categories at the Asian Awards 2021.

A para-athlete herself, Deepa Malik became the first female Paralympic medallist from India when she won the silver medal in shot put at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. Although Malik started her career late, at the age of 30, Malik has tasted success in countless competitions, winning as many as 58 national and 23 international medals across all disciplines to date.

Elected as the President of Paralympic India in 2020, Deepa Malik has been leading by example and is a major force behind the big boost in para-sports in the country currently and the Asian Order award is only proof of her exemplary leadership in bringing more laurels to the country in para-sports.