Paris: Resilient in the face of life’s numerous challenges, a formidable group of 84 Indian para-athletes — the nation’s largest contingent to date, blending youthful vigour with seasoned expertise — is set to pursue an unprecedented sweep of gold medals at the Paralympic Games starting this Wednesday.
India achieved a historic high at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021, securing 19 medals, including five golds, culminating in a 24th-place finish in the overall tally. Now, three years later, the ambition is to surpass 25 medals, aiming for a significant number of golds.
Driving this aspiration is not only the contingent’s size but also their stellar performances over the past year. India clinched a record-breaking 111 medals at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games last year, 29 of which were gold.
This momentum continued with extraordinary achievements at the World Para Athletics Championships in May, where India captured 17 medals, including six golds, earning a sixth-place finish in the overall rankings.
Many medalists from Hangzhou are part of the current Paralympics squad, including luminaries such as world record-holder javelin thrower Sumit Antil (F64) and rifle shooter Avani Lekhara (10m Air Rifle Standing SH1), both set to defend their Tokyo golds.
The Games, a testament to both athletic prowess and human resilience, categorize athletes by similar functional abilities in movement, coordination, and balance into different classifications based on the “degree and nature of their eligible impairments.”
For India, the para-athletics team has historically been a significant source of medals, and expectations are high for it to be the foremost contributor once again, with no fewer than 38 athletes competing.
