I like both Ajith and Vijay and their films: Mariyappan

High jumper Mariyappan Thangavelu, the silver the Tokyo Paralympics, has been a busy man, attending felicitation events and interviews since his arrival in Chennai on Sunday. We meet him at a star hotel in the city. While he's still basking in the success of his silver medal achievement in the just-concluded Paralaympics in Tokyo, he seems to be already focused on his upcoming international events - World Championships and Asian Games.He says, "I've been given only 10 days before training starts again. I've already been given a schedule for training. World Championships and Asian Games are coming up next."
Ask him about his other interests and he replies, "I play volleyball and badminton. I would play with other athletes in the camp." As our conversations veer to Paralympics this year, he says it was quite good that we had so many athletes from India. "Back in 2016, there weren't many athletes from India. But this time, it wasn't like that. And the good thing is that everyone bonded with each other well and would motivate each other." But him being identified as a close contact of a COVID positive person made things a bit difficult for him, including him missing the opportunity to be India's flag-bearer at the opening ceremony, he says. "Because of that there would two security personnel with me all the time. I wasn't allowed to talk to anyone, go anywhere, etc They brought me for the event and took me back as soon as it got over. Anyways, I kept myself focused on the sport even when I missed the opportunity to be India's flag-bearer."
And his stress buster, he says, are comedy films. "But it's been a while since I've watched films because of busy training schedules." Is he an Ajith or Vijay fan? "I like both of them and their films," he says with a smile. And his cheat meal? "I eat whatever my mom prepares. She cooks biryani. Biryani and naatu kozhi are my favourite," he tells us as we wind up the conversation.