Girisha bags first Paralympic medal for India

Girisha Hosanagara Nagarajegowda gave India its first medal at the Paralympic Games, winning a silver in the men's high jump F42 event in London.

The 24-year old from Karnataka, who has an impairment in his left leg, cleared a height of 1.74m in the final, using the scissors technique, to finish second in the presence of an 80,000 capacity crowd on Monday night.

Iliesa Delana of Fiji won the gold, while Lukasz Mamczarz of Poland settled for bronze.

Although Delana finished with the same height, 1.74m, as Girisha and Mamczarz, she won gold on the basis of taking lesser jumps.

Girisha, who is supported by Samarthanam, a Bangalore-based NGO for the disabled, since 2008, took part in a three-week pre-Games' training camp at Basildon Sporting Village, which was sponsored by the Government of India.

Photograph: Gareth Copley/Getty Images