India is sending a strong team of 84 athletes to the Paris 2024 Paralympics, starting Wednesday. The country hopes to win a record number of medals. In the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics, India won 19 medals, including five gold, and ranked 24th. This time, India aims to win more than 25 medals and achieve double-digit gold medals.
India has set this goal because it is sending its largest-ever team to the games. Indian athletes have been performing well recently, increasing hopes for a successful outcome. Last year, India won a record 111 medals, including 29 gold, at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games. In May, the country won 17 medals, including six gold, at the World Para Athletics Championships.
Several medal winners from the Asian Games are part of the Paralympic team. Notable athletes include javelin thrower Sumit Antil and rifle shooter Avani Lekhara, who will defend their gold medals from Tokyo.
The Para-Athletics team has performed well in the past, and there are high hopes from the 38 athletes participating in athletics this time. Other strong medal contenders include para archer Sheetal Devi, shot putter Hokato Sema, and rower Narayan Kongnappalle. India will compete in 12 sports, up from nine in Tokyo.
Shooter Manish Narwal and badminton player Krishna Nagar are also set to defend their gold medals from the last Paralympics. Sumit Antil, who lost his left leg in an accident at the age of 17, won gold at the Para World Championships in May and hopes to exceed 75 meters in Paris.
Avani Lekhara won one gold and one bronze in Tokyo and hopes to win more medals. She was the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic gold and aims to join the list of athletes with three gold medals.
The president of the Indian Paralympic Committee (PCI), Devendra Jhajharia, is a top performer with two gold (2004 Athens and 2016 Rio) and one silver (2021 Tokyo). Joginder Singh Bedi won three medals (one silver in shot put and one bronze each in javelin and discus throw) at the 1984 Paralympics. Other medal hopefuls include Deepa Malik, Mariyappan Thangavelu, and Yogesh Kathuniya.
Tokyo gold medalist Pramod Bhagat will not compete this time due to a doping violation. Silver medalist Suhas Yathiraj (men’s singles and mixed doubles) is expected to be a strong contender. Para archers Sheetal and Harvinder Singh are also medal hopefuls. Harvinder won bronze in the men’s individual recurve open in Tokyo.
Bhavinaben Patel, who won silver in table tennis at Tokyo, aims to win gold this time. She will compete in the women’s singles S4 and women’s doubles D10 events. Sumit Antil and shot putter Bhagyashree Jadhav, who won silver in the Asian Para Games, will be flag bearers at the opening ceremony of the Paralympics, marking the first time the ceremony will be held outside a stadium.
