Malathi Krishnamurthy Holla is an international para athlete from India. She was awarded

Arjuna award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

and

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

for her achievements. She was born on 6 July 1958 in kota, Karnataka, India. Her father Krishnamurthy Holla ran a small hotel, while her mother Padmavathi Holla took care of their four children. Malathi was paralyzed by polio when she was one year old. Electric shock treatment for more than two years improved her upper body strength. Having won over 397 gold medals, 27 Silver medals and 5 bronze medals. Malathi was conferred the prestigious

Arjuna Arjuna (Sanskrit: अर्जुन, ), also known as Partha and Dhananjaya, is a character in several ancient Hindu texts, and specifically one of the major characters of the Indian epic Mahabharata. In the epic, he is the third among Panda ...

and

awards. She represented India in the Paralympics held in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, Barcelona, Athens and Beijing; the Asian Games held in Beijing, Bangkok, South Korea and Kuala Lumpur; World Masters held in Denmark and Australia,

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

in Australia and Open Championships in Belgium, Kuala Lumpur and England. Malathi has so far undergone 34 surgeries. She works as a Manager in Syndicate Bank and shelters 54 children with various disabilities at Mathru Foundation — a charitable trust formed along with her friends. She focuses mainly on polio victims from rural areas, whose parents cannot afford to send their child to school or provide medical treatment. She launched her first authorized biography, ''A Different Spirit'' on 8 July 2009. “When I was young, I wanted to be first among my friends who used to run to the backyard to pick the fallen mangoes. I wanted to fly like a bird fearlessly from one place to another. But as I grew up I realised that you need legs to run and wings to fly. I was hurt, but I didn’t give up. I knew, one day, I would run…” says Malathi in the book. “Thus I took up sports and decided to do something different in life. Yes, we are different and so even our lives should be a shining example of that difference,” she adds.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Holla, Malathi Krishnamurthy Living people Recipients of the Arjuna Award Indian female athletes 20th-century Indian women 20th-century Indian people Paralympic athletes for India Recipients of the Padma Shri in sports Athletes from Bangalore 1958 births Sportswomen from Karnataka A.hvr