Paris Paralympics: A look at India’s best campaign ever, many records and “firsts” established

India concluded its historic campaign at the Paris 2024 Paralympics with an impressive total of 29 medals, including seven gold, nine silver, and 13 bronze. This marks the most successful Paralympics campaign in India’s history, surpassing the 19 medals won at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.

With this record-breaking performance, India crossed the 50-medal milestone in the history of the Paralympic Games. A total of 84 Indian para-athletes participated across 12 disciplines, an increase from the nine disciplines in Tokyo 2020. New events for India at the Paris Games included paracycling, para rowing, and blind judo.

India’s athletes achieved several notable firsts and set new records during these Games.

– Avani Lekhara became the first Indian woman to win two Paralympic gold medals, defending her title in the women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 event with a world record score of 249.7 points.

– In a first for Indian para-athletics, Dharambir and Parnav Soorma secured a one-two finish in the men’s club throw F51 event, winning gold and silver respectively. Dharambir set a new Asian record with a throw of 34.92 meters.

– Praveen Kumar raised the bar in the T64 high jump, breaking the Asian record with a jump of 2.08 meters to secure India’s sixth gold medal.

– Harvinder Singh became India’s first Paralympic or Olympic archery champion, winning gold in the men’s individual recurve event.

– Sumit Antil defended his title in the men’s javelin throw F64 event, setting a new Paralympic record with a throw of 70.59 meters. He surpassed his own previous record from Tokyo 2020 three times during the competition.

– Mariyappan Thangavelu won bronze in the high jump T42 event, becoming the first Indian athlete to win medals at three consecutive Paralympic Games. He had previously won gold at Rio 2016 and silver at Tokyo 2020.

In athletics, Preethi Pal won India’s first medal in a Paralympic track event, securing bronze in the women’s 100m T35 race with a personal best time of 14.21 seconds. She also won another bronze in the T35 200m event.

Deepthi Jeevanji made history as the first intellectually impaired Indian athlete to win a Paralympic medal, claiming bronze in the women’s 400m T20 event.

In para-archery, Sheetal Devi set a world record in the ranking round with a score of 703 points and later teamed up with Rakesh Kumar to achieve another world record in the mixed team compound open event. The duo secured bronze, making Sheetal the youngest Indian Paralympic medalist at 17.

India also saw success in para-badminton, with Manisha Ramdass winning the country’s first-ever medal in the sport, a bronze. Kapil Parmar became India’s first-ever Paralympic judo medallist, winning bronze in the men’s -60kg J1 category.

India’s Medalists at the Paris 2024 Paralympics:

– Avani Lekhara (Shooting, Women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1, Gold)

– Mona Agarwal (Shooting, Women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1, Bronze)

– Preethi Pal (Athletics, Women’s 100m T35, Bronze)

– Manish Narwal (Shooting, Men’s 10m air pistol SH1, Silver)

– Rubina Francis (Shooting, Women’s 10m Air Pistol SH1, Bronze)

– Preethi Pal (Shooting, Women’s 10m Air Pistol SH1, Bronze)

– Nishad Kumar (Athletics, Men’s high jump T47, Silver)

– Yogesh Kathuniya (Athletics, Men’s discus throw F56, Silver)

– Nitesh Kumar (Badminton, Men’s singles SL3, Gold)

– Thulasimathi Murugesan (Badminton, Women’s singles SU5, Silver)

– Manisha Ramadass (Badminton, Women’s singles SU5, Bronze)