New Delhi: A historic moment for India! It was a leap of courage, self belief and endurance that fetched India a gold and a bronze at Rio Paralympics in high jump on Saturday. Mariyappan Thangavelu won the gold medal where as Varun Singh Bhati bagged the bronze medal in men's high jump T42 event, while India's other athlete Sharad Kumar finished at 6th position.

20-year-0old Thangavelu made a leap of 1.89m. He was injured in a bus accident at the age of five, which left him with permanent disability. Bronze medal winner Bhati was diagnosed with polio which led to a deformity in his legs but he still managed to jump to his best 1.86m and grab a medal for India.

What is T42?

T42 is a disability classification in the sport for differently-abled athletes with single above the knee amputations or comparable disability.

There was a cut throat competition between the athletes with six of the 12 athletes clearing the 1.74m mark in their first attempt. Surprisingly Thangavelu cleared the 1.77m mark after his 10th attempt to become a part of leading group along with China's Zhiqiang Zhing and Lukasz of Poland and Kumar. He then went into the lead along with Bhati as both of them managed to clear the 1.83m mark. Kumar, however, could not improve his performance and crashed out of medal contention. Grewe pushed Bhati and Thangavelu to a joint second spot. But they made a strong comeback.

And then came a magical jump from Thangavelu to make sure he won gold while Grewe and Bhati finished with best efforts of 1.86m.

India now has two medals in Paralympics this year. HN Grisha was the first Indian high jumper to win a medal at 2012 Paralympic games.

India's overall tally in all Paralympic Games now stands to 10--Three gold, three silver and four bronze.