The curtains to the Paralympics 2024 were finally drawn in a spectacular closing ceremony with an explosion of fireworks, laser beams, breakdance and a thumping set by the giants of French electronica, and more importantly with record-breaking performance from India athletes to end the sporting spectacle with 29 medals (7 gold, 9 silver, 13 bronze).
If the 19 medals won at the Tokyo Paralympics, three years ago, ignited India’s push to make a mark in the biggest show of para sports, the record-breaking performance in Paris, has in a way, stamped that intent of scaling new peaks in para sports.
Not too long ago, India returned with a mere single-digit medal count from Paralympics but the remarkable performance in Tokyo infused new energy into the administrators and athletes alike, and the Paris medal tally is a reflection of the intent and push for inclusivity that para athletes have so far been deprived of.
When three-time Paralympic medallist Devendra Jhajharia took over the reins of the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI), he continued from where Rio silver-medallist Deepa Malik had left, and set the standards high by predicting 25 medals in Paris. India’s Paralympians not only scaled that peak, and in fact extended that to 29, but more importantly, also increased the gold medal count from 5 in Tokyo to 7 in Paris.
Surge in women para-athletes’ contribution
Compared to Rio and Tokyo, where only a handful of women returned as medallists, Paris witnessed a steep surge of women athletes landing on the podium. In Rio 2016, Deepa Malik was the solitary medallist when she became the first female to win a Paralympic medal, while in Tokyo. Avani Lekhara and Bhavina Patel won three medals among them.
At Paris 2024, the number swelled to more than thrice as Indian women athletes brought home a total of 11 medals among them (including one in mixed team events). Avani Lekhara, Sheetal Devi, Thulasimathi Murugesan, Manisha Ramadass, Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan, Rubina Francis, and Mona Agarwal delivered in shooting, archery and badminton.
Traditionally, athletics accounted for a large chunk of India’s medal tally, and continuing the trend in Paris, the athletes delivered 17 of the 29 medals, and four of the seven top finishes. But the biggest takeaway from Paris would be the medals in track events, unlike the previous editions where India’s medals came only from field events.
Preethi Pal started the medal rush with a 100m T35 bronze and later backed it up with another bronze in the 200m (T35), before Simran Sharma joined her as a third-place finisher in the 200m T12 event. Deepthi Jeevanji, who came into Paris as World Champion, bagged another bronze in 400m T20 event.
Tasting success in new events
Archery has been one discipline in which even the able-bodied athletes have failed to make a mark in the Olympics. At Paris, Harvinder Singh broke the jinx by becoming the first Indian archer to bring home a gold in recurve while teenaged armless sensation Sheetal Devi achieved what no Indian woman archer had gone before — on the podium, in the company of Rakesh Kumar with the mixed team compound bronze.
Kapil Parmar also etched his name in Indian Paralympics history by winning a bronze medal in blind judo to become the first ever Indian to achieve the feat.
While the 17-year-old Sheetal headlined the list of Paralympic medallists in their debut Games, the 40-year-old former Indian Army soldier Hokato Hotozhe Sema proved that age is just a number by picking a bronze in shot put F57 event.
Repeaters reap 11 medals
There is no substitute to experience, and shooter Avani Lekhara and javelin thrower Sumit Antil led the charge by defending their crowns as nine other Indian athletes doubled up their medals in Paris, including Mariaappan Thangavelu (tripled in his case).
The 22-year-old Avani displayed great maturity to bring back the gold in the 10m air rifle SH1 category before javelin thrower Sumit Antil reclaimed his numero uno status in the F64 category. There were a handful of athletes in shuttler Suhas Yathiraj, high jumper Nishad Kumar and discus thrower Yogesh Kathuniya, who retained their silvers, while a host of other Tokyo-Paris medallists improved their medal colour. High jumper Praveen, who left Tokyo with a silver bettered his performance in Paris to claim the gold, archer Harvinder took the golden leap from a bronze while high jumper Sharad Kumar improved from a bronze to silver.
Heartbreaks
There were moments of heartbreak as the table tennis contingent that won medals in Tokyo drew a blank in Paris, while in badminton, the number of medals soared from four to five but the gold count decreased from two to one.
Looking forward to the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics, the wider pool of medals propelling India to a 16th place finish at the Paris Games, could certainly help in setting the tone for para-athletes to start preparing for a dream haul of 50 medals in four years time.