Indian Paris Paralympics campaign finished on a high as the 84-member contingent created history and culminated their journey in Paris as their best-ever Paralympic Games.
A fabulous journey that ended with a total of 29 medals has shown the immense growth of the country in para sports in the last decade.
The sport which always gave immense pleasure to the fans, para-athletics, has gone one step further this time, winning more than double the number of medals they won in the last edition of the Tokyo Paralympics.
Indian Para-athletics contingent had a whopping medal tally, having 17 medals, which included four gold medals.
In addition, India who never had a track medal before Paris, won four of those in Paris showcasing the improvement for India in the variety of events.
Another feather to the Indian javelin legacy
Indian Javelin throwers have always been a dominating force in Para-athletics, winning seven medals in the history before the Paris Paralympics.
At Paris also, Indian javelin throwers made an outstanding performance winning four medals, including two golds. This also takes India’s overall Javelin throw medal tally to double digits.
The star man, Sumit Antil, showcased his dominance in the F64 javelin throw event by defending his title with a Paralympic record of 70.59m. He also became the first Indian to defend his title in any para-athletics event.
The newest entrant to the list of gold medalists in the javelin throw is Navdeep Singh, who won the gold medal for India in the men’s javelin F41 category. He also won the gold medal with a Paralympic record of 47.32m.
India also had a double podium finish in the para-javelin throw in the men’s F46 category, where Ajeet Singh and Sundar Singh Gurjar won the silver and bronze medals respectively.
Peak level of consistency for high jumpers
Indian high jumpers continued their consistent run at international events as all four of the medalists from Tokyo in the high jump defended their medals in Paris.
Praveen Kumar who became the youngest medalist in Tokyo for India went one step further and claimed a gold medal in Paris at the high jump T64 event with an Asian record of 2.08m.
Similarly, Nishad Kumar also clinched his second consecutive silver medal in Paris at the men’s high jump T47 event with a season-best jump of 2.04m in the final.
On the other hand, Indian high jumpers made history by clinching a double podium in the third consecutive edition of the T42/63 category at the Paralympics.
Sharad Kumar and Mariyappan Thangavelu clinched the silver and bronze medals in this category in Paris respectively, marking the third Paralympic medal for Mariyappan and the second for Sharad.
First ever top 2 finish in Para-athletics
India also had their first ever top 2 finish in any category of para-athletics, when Dharambir and Pranav Soorma made a gold-silver finish in the men’s club throw F51 final.
This was also India’s first-ever Paralympic medal in any club throw event. Dharambir clinched the title with an Asian record of 34.92m while Pranav won the silver medal with the best throw of 34.59m.
Yogesh continued his silver streak
Yogesh Kathuniya could not find his best throw in Paris but still won a silver medal in the men’s discus throw F56 event. This was the second consecutive silver medal for him at the Paralympic Games.
However, he was aiming to improve his medal color this time but it wasn’t his day and he had to settle for another silver medal with a season-best throw of 42.22m.
This was the fifth consecutive silver medal for him at the major tournament. He won silver medals in the last two editions of the World Championships and Paralympic Games and also at the Asian Para Games last year.
The first-ever medal in track event
India has never won a medal in a track event at the Paralympics before the Paris Games. But this time, India broke all the records and won not only one but a total of four medals from the track events.
Preethi Pal was the first Indian to win a medal in track events when she clinched the bronze medal in the women’s 100m T35 event with a personal best timing of 14.21s.
She was also the only Indian athlete to win two medals in Paris after adding another bronze to her tally with another personal best timing of 30.01s in the women’s 200m T35 category.
World Champion, Deepthi Jeevanji, was the second Indian athlete to win a track medal as she clinched a bronze medal in an exciting final race in women’s 400m T20 category, clocking a timing of 55.82s.
The final track medal of India was clinched by Simran Sharma in the women’s 200m T12 category, where she clinched a bronze medal with a personal best timing of 24.75s
End of a long wait for a male shot put medallist
Indian men’s shot putters have always been consistent throwers, but they have not been able to secure a medal at the Paralympic Games for the past 40 years.
But this time in Paris, they ended this drought and claimed two medals, one silver, and one bronze in this discipline for the first time since the 1984 Summer Paralympics.
Two-time reigning world champion, Sachin Khilari, won the first shot put for India in Paris, he clinched a silver medal in the men’s shot put F46 category with a new Asian Record of 16.32m.
Then, Hokato Sema followed his compatriot and claimed a bronze medal in the men’s shot put F57 category with a personal best throw of 14.65m. He also become India’s first-ever medalist from the Northeastern part of India.