The Indian contingent produced their best performance at the Paris Paralympics this year as the athletes brought home a total of 29 medals. Paris has given hope for a brighter future and has ensured that India’s para athletes are no pushovers when it comes to performing on the biggest stage.
India’s 29 medals – seven gold, nine silver and 13 bronze – placed it 18th among the participating nations. The country’s track and field athletes shone bright, winning 17 medals including three gold. They were followed by badminton players (5 medals), shooters (4) and archers (2). Out of 29, women athletes won an impressive 10 medals – four in athletics and three each in badminton and shooting.
India’s para athletes not only won medals but also broke several world, Paralympics and Asian records in Paris. In archery, Sheetal Devi surpassed the previous world (698) and Paralympic (694) record in the women’s compound open ranking round with a score of 703. She, however, missed setting the new world and Paralympic record by mere one point (New WR & PR704).
In athletics, Sumit Antil surpassed his own Paralympic record of 68.55m thrice to set the new PR at 70.59m in the men’s javelin F64 event. Sharad Kumar set the new Paralympic record in T42 category, bettering the old PR (1.86m) with the best jump of 1.88m in the men’s high jump T63 event. Dharambir set the new Asian record with the best throw of 34.92m in the men’s club throw F51 event while Sachin Khilari rewrote the Asian record with the best effort of 16.32m in the men’s shot put F46 event.
In shooting, Avani Lekhara surpassed her own Paralympic record (PR) of 249.6 points by 0.1 point, to set the new PR of 249.7 in R2 – women’s 10m air rifle SH1 (final) event.
Debutant Sheetal (para archery) became the youngest-ever medallist from India at 17 years, 7 months and 23 days. Similarly, Dharambir became the oldest Indian athlete to win a gold medal at the Paralympics, achieving this feat at the age of 35 years and 7 months, surpassing Devendra Jhajharia, who was 35 years and 3 months old when he won gold at the Rio Paralympics 2016.
Paris Paralympics also saw India sending a record number of female participants. Out of 84 members, 32 were women athletes. Female athletes won a total of 10 medals – one gold, one silver and eight bronze.
There were as many as seven female debutants in Paris – Thulasimathi Murugesan (silver, badminton), Sheetal Devi (bronze, archery), Manisha Ramadass (bronze, badminton), Nithya Sre (bronze, badminton), Preethi Pal (two bronze, athletics), Deepthi Jeevanji (bronze, athletics) and Mona Agarwal (bronze, shooting).
Medals Missed
Seven Indians came close to winning medals, finishing 4th place: Rakesh Kumar (individual compound archery), Sandeep (javelin throw F64), Sivarajan Solaimalai & Nithya Sre (mixed doubles SH-6 badminton), Sukant Kadam (men’s singles SL-4 badminton), Shailesh Kumar (men’s high jump T63), Harvinder Singh & Pooja (mixed team recurve open) and Simran (women’s 100m T35)
