A war hero who suffered debilitating injuries in an aerial attack during the 1965 war with Pakistan and was rendered paraplegic, was the first gold medal winner for India in the Paralympics.
Meet Murlikant Petkar, who survived nine bullet injuries, won the yellow metal at the 1972 Games at Heidelberg in Germany. Moreover, Petkar won gold in 50m freestyle 3 swimming with the then world record timing of 37.33 seconds.
Petkar was a soldier of the craftsman rank in the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME). He was visiting Jammu and Kashmir when his army camp came under aerial attack from Pakistani troops. He received multiple bullet injuries and was also run over by an army vehicle in the chaos.
Rendered disabled for life, he was advised by a physiotherapist, to take up sports as part of his rehabilitation. Petkar tried his hand at table tennis, athletics and swimming and represented the country in all three.
Petkar was born at Peth Islampur in Sangli district of Maharashtra on November 1, 1947. His life changed when he started participating in swimming. In 1972 Games, he took part in Men’s Slalom 3, Men’s Shot Put 3, Men’s Javelin 3, Men’s Precision Javelin Open besides 50m freestyle swimming. Petkar, who was a boxer before he became disabled, reached the finals of all his events. Moreover, he grabbed gold medal in 50m freestyle swimming.
In an illustrious career spanning nearly two decades, Petkar won several laurels for the country. At events like the Stoke Mandeville International Paraplegic Meets held in England, he consistently outdid his own records. He also won the General Championship Cup for five consecutive years (1969-73); the 3rd Commonwealth Paraplegic Games held at Edinburgh, Scotland, where he bagged gold in 50m freestyle swimming, silver in javelin throw and bronze in shot put. He created another world record in 50m swimming in International FESPIC Games in Hong Kong in 1982.