Meet Murlikant Petkar, a war hero who survived 9 bullet wounds to win India’s first paralympic gold

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Murlikant Petkar? I have performed the same drill in many of my talks. Rarely have I seen a hand go up. It’s a painful sight. And a proof that India still has distance to travel to become an inclusive, equal and a multisport nation. Petkar, now 77, is a war hero and the winner of India’s first-ever Paralympics gold medal. He won the gold in the 50m freestyle (swimming) in 1972 in Heidelberg, Germany with a then world record time. And that after he had sustained multiple bullet wounds, nine to be precise, in the 1965 India-Pakistan war. That he was still alive was a miracle. But he did not give up and went on to win multiple international medals thereafter to make his feat one of the greatest ever achievements in the history of Indian sport. Yet, very few know about him. Maybe with Kabir Khan now working on a biopic of Petkar with Kartik Aaryan in the lead, things will change. Like Bhaag Milkha Bhaag made Milkha Singh a household name to the current generation. Singh’s exploits in the 1960 Rome Olympics, which the film revisits and helps contextualise, have been restored to their rightful place in the public imagination. Shah Rukh Khan starrer Chak De! India did the same. Entwining a tale about nationalism with a narrative concerning the neglected state of Indian women’s hockey, Chak De! India brought a known story of indifference and discrimination to light. It helped illuminate how Indian women’s sport remains trapped within traditional gender stereotypes.

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But publicity or being famous don’t matter to Petkar. “I wanted to do something for my country. If my efforts helped the tricolour go up, there can be no greater publicity or