Indian athletes have performed their best in the Paris Paralympics and have won a total of 29 medals. Pooja Ojha missed out on making it to the final of the women’s kayak single 200m KL1 sprint canoeing event on Sunday and with this India’s campaign in the Paralympic Games ended, in which it won a record 29 medals. India finished the Paris Paralympic Games with a record of seven gold, nine silver and 13 bronze medals and is set to be ranked 18th in the medal tally. The first medal for India in the Paris Paralympics was won by Avni Lekhara and the last medal was won by Navdeep. Interestingly, both the medals were gold.
India won a total of 29 medals, of which seven were gold, a first for the country. India started making its presence felt in the 2016 edition itself, with the country’s para athletes winning four medals. After this, their performance became stellar, with para athletes winning 19 medals in Tokyo. Of the total 29 medals in five sports, track and field alone accounted for 17 medals, ensuring that the country finished in the top 20 in these sports. The Paralympics was once again dominated by China, which won more than 200 medals.
India is still a long way from becoming a force at the Olympic level but the country has certainly emerged as a force in disabled competition. Shooter Avani Lekhara became a two-time Paralympic gold medallist by winning the women’s 10m air rifle title. In para-badminton, Thulasimati Murugesan won a silver medal in the women’s singles SU5 and created history by becoming the first Indian woman to win a medal in the sport. Indian women para-shuttlers added three more medals to India’s tally.
Medals in track and judo:
India’s 84-member contingent ensured several firsts in Paralympic history including track events where sprinter Preeti Pal won bronze medals in the women’s 100m T35 and 200m T35 categories. The T35 category is for athletes with disorders such as hypertonia, ataxia and athetosis. Preeti was born with weak legs and her condition worsened as she grew up.
For the first time, a medal was won in Judo. Kapil Parmar won the first medal in this sport, making India proud by winning a bronze medal in the 60 kg J1 category of men’s Judo. Kapil (24 years old) was injured by an electric shock while playing in the fields of his village in his childhood but he recovered from this accident. He was also forced to sell tea to meet his needs but he changed the situation.
Archery and club throw put India ahead in the medal tally:
Players like Harvinder Singh and Dharambir took India to a high position in the medals tally by bagging unprecedented gold medals in archery and club throw respectively. Born without arms, archer Sheetal Devi was already a ray of hope for millions. After winning a bronze medal in the mixed team, the 17-year-old showed a never-say-die attitude.
She shot using her feet instead of her hands, making her a crowd favourite in Paris. But her exit in the 1/8 eliminations in the singles event left the crowd disappointed. A few days later, Harvinder kept his cool under pressure to win India’s first gold medal in archery and also change the colour of his bronze medal from the Tokyo leg.
On the other hand, securing first and second place in the club throw event was a rare achievement for India with Dharambir and Pranav Soorma reaching the podium in the F51 category. Dharambir was paralysed below the waist in an accident but the Sonipat resident got a lot of support from fellow para athlete Amit Kumar Saroha who guided him.
Sumit Antil and Avni Lekhara retained the title:
While medals came for the first time in many events, there were high expectations from some players including javelin thrower Sumit Antil and shooter Avni Lekhara who won gold in Tokyo. Sumit’s left leg had to be amputated after an accident. He broke his own Paralympic record by winning the gold medal in javelin throw for the second consecutive time, while wheelchair-bound rifle shooter Lekhara dominated the air rifle SH1 final.
Kumar Nitesh also won a gold medal from the badminton court, who defeated Britain’s Daniel Bethell in a thrilling final. Nitesh also lost his leg after a train accident. He started playing badminton while pursuing graduation from IIT-Mandi. If India forms a pool of para swimmers, it can hope to make it to the top 10 as only one swimmer represented the country in Paris. On the other hand, China, which was at the top, won 54 medals including 20 gold in swimming.
Agency Input