In India, like elsewhere, the Paralympics have always been overshadowed by the Olympics, despite the fact that if anything, the former often serves as a more powerful reminder of the capacity of humans to overcome any impediment. This has never been more evident than in the 2024 Games, where India won 29 medals – including 7 gold, 9 silver and 13 bronze – its highest medal tally ever.
Shooting
Avani Lekhara became one of India’s first success stories at the Paralympics 2024 after her remarkable win in the women’s 10m air rifle shooting category on 30 August. She won gold after breaking the record that she had set in her Paralympics debut at Tokyo 2020, with a final score of 249.7. This makes her the first Indian woman to win two golds in the Paralympics and the second Indian to do so after javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia.
Adding further significance to this event was the fact that for the first time in Indian sporting history, two contestants made it to the podium in the same event, with Mona Agarwal taking the bronze.
Rubina Francis also secured a bronze medal in the women’s 10m air pistol event. It was a tense match in which she had initially fallen out of the podium position during the second stage. It was only after knocking out Turkey’s Aysegül Pehlivanlar, that she managed to reach podium.
Other successes in the shooting arena include Manish Narwal’s silver medal in the men’s 10m air pistol event.
Sprint
Whilst the shooting tournaments were all the rage in the first week of the Paralympics 2024, many couldn’t stop talking about young sprinter Preethi Pal, who became the first female Indian athlete to win two medals in track and field, an achievement that has yet to be realised by an Indian Olympic athlete in this sport.
The 23-year-old finished third in the women’s 100m race with a timing of 14.21 seconds. Shortly afterwards, Pal also brought home bronze at the 200m race, with a timing of 30.01, coming third to Chinese athletes Xia Zhou and Guo Quianquian in both races.
Deepthi Jeevanji won bronze for the 400m race with a timing of 55.82s, finishing only 00.66s behind the gold medallist.
Second time Paralympian Simran Sharma won another bronze for India through her efforts in the women’s 200m T12 category. This win was historic as it marked India’s first medal in the category.
High-Jump
All eyes were on long-time rivals Nishad Kumar and the USA’s Roderick Townsend-Roberts during the finals of the men’s high jump T47 event in their gruelling fight for the gold. Unfortunately for Kumar, his efforts in the arena were not enough to better his personal best score, at 2.10m and he ultimately lost to Townsend-Roberts’ 2.12m jump thus winning a silver medal.
Praveen Kumar took gold in the men’s high jump T47 event after reaching the 2.08m mark, thus breaking the Asian record. This is his second consecutive medal, after winning silver at the Tokyo Olympics.
Another double podium finish was achieved by Sharad Kumar and Mariyappan Thangavelu who won the silver and bronze medals respectively in the men’s high jump T63 category, making Thangavelu the first Indian para-athlete to win medals at three consecutive games.
Throwing events
India’s seventh gold medal was claimed by Navdeep Singh in the men’s javelin throw at the F41 category (a stunning performance, PB 47.32m). This also marked India’s first gold medal in the category.
Sumit Antil impressed next, in the men’s javelin throw FG4 class. This was a monumental occasion which saw the world record holder beat his previous Paralympic record with a score of 70.59m, thus becoming the first Indian para-athlete to defend his title.
Yogesh Kathuniya won the silver medal in the men’s discus throw F56 event at the Paris Paralympics with a score of 42.22m. It was a score that he received in his first attempt, with all subsequent scores being higher than 39m. Kathuniya had also taken home the silver medal in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Ajeet Singh and Sundar Singh Gurjar won silver and bronze medal respectively in the men’s javelin throw F46 class, another double podium finish for India.
Sachin Sarjerao Khilari won the silver medal for shot put in the F46 event, with a score of 16.32 that broke the record he had set at the World Para Athletics Championships earlier this year.
Hokato Hotozhe Sema also won a bronze medal for shot put in the F57 category achieving his personal best of 14.65m.
The club throw event saw another double podium finish: Dharambir and Pranav Soorna won gold and silver respectively in the men’s club throw. Dharambir’s score of 34.92m also broke the Asian record.
Badminton
Badminton saw a haul of five medals.
Nitesh Kumar won gold after playing against Britain’s Daniel Bethel in the men’s singles’ SL3. The game initially seemed to be in Bethel’s favour after Kumar made several unforced errors, however, Kumar took over the net with enough time to gain a victory.
Thulasimathi Murugesan and Manisha Ramadass who won the silver and bronze medals respectively in the women’s singles SU5 category achieved another double podium finish. Murugesan, who had claimed three medals including a gold in the women’s singles at the 2022 Asian Para Games, was initially in the lead during the first set, only for China’s Qiu Xia Yang to quickly catch up. In contrast, Ramadass achieved a solid victory over Denmark’s Cathrine Rosengrine with a score of 21 – 8.
Suhas Yathiraj played against his long-standing rival, France’s Lucas Mazur in the SL4 category. This category is for players with limited movement on one side of their lower bodies. Mazur was ultimately victorious and took gold, whilst Yathiraj took home a silver medal. The game was tense, and for a period it seemed that Yathiraj might have been able to overcome the 7-0 lead that Mazur had in the first set, only to be ultimately defeated with a score of 13-21.
Up and coming badminton star Sumathy Nithya Sre won her first Paralympic medal in the SH6 category despite being only 19. She defeated Indonesia’s Rina Larlina, a former World Champion in the category. Sre won both games of the match in a mere 23 minutes.
Judo
Kapil Parmar won a bronze medal for para-judo, thus becoming the first Indian to take home a medal for the sport. He was also the first judoka in the country to ever qualify for the Games.
Archery
Harvinder Singh became the first Indian archer to win gold at the Paralympics 2024 with his performance at the men’s individual recurve open.
A few days earlier, India saw success in the mixed team compound archery category as 17-year-old Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar won the bronze medal by the skin of their teeth, ultimately finishing with a score of 156-155. Whilst Kumar is a highly successful athlete in his own right, Paralympics 2024 games have drawn attention to Devi in particular, due to her unique archery style in which she relies mainly on her feet and jaw to shoot, having been born with a condition called phocomelia which resulted in her arms failing to fully form.
With an unprecedented number of Indian athletes competing in this year’s Paralympics and over a wide range of sports including disciplines such as para-cycling and blind judo, it’s no surprise that India is seeing more victories than ever.
With IANS reports
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