The Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games opened yesterday in a dazzling ceremony, inviting 4,400 competitors from 168 delegations. For India, this year’s Games is the 12th Paralympics. It has participated in the Paralympics since 1968 and has won 31 medals in all. More than half of it were won in just the last edition of the Games.
In 2021, India finished 24th. This year, the country hopes for the biggest ever medal haul yet, sending 84 para-athletes to the Games. This is the largest contingent after last edition’s 54 athletes. Paralympic Committee of India president Devendra Jhajharia has set the target for this year as 25 medals, with a double-digit gold haul. Of the 84 athletes participating this year, 14 have won medals in past Games.
When it comes to sports disciplines, India has won medals in seven. In athletics, medals have been won in events like javelin throw, discus throw, shot put and high jump.
India’s 31 medals were won by 24 athletes, with Murlikant Petkar bringing in the first medal in swimming in 1972. Petkar, a veteran of the 1965 Indo-Pak War, swam 50 metres in 37.33 seconds, making a world record and winning gold. In 2016, Deepa Malik became the first Indian woman to win a medal in the Paralympics when she won a silver medal in the shot put event.
The Games will be held between August 29 and September 8.
