India at the Paralympics
Sporting event delegation From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
India first participated in the 1968 Summer Paralympics. The nation has appeared in every edition of the Summer Paralympics since 1984. The Paris 2024 Games marked India's 13th appearance at the Paralympics. The country has never participated in the Winter Paralympic Games.
India's first medal in the Paralympics came in the 1972 Games, with Murlikant Petkar winning a gold medal in swimming. Up to the recent 2024 Games, India have won 60 medals across all Paralympic Games, with the most successful Paralympic campaign being the Paris 2024 Games with 29 medals including seven gold, nine silver and thirteen bronze.
History
Summarize
Perspective
Stoke Mandeville Games (1960–1984)
The ninth International Stoke Mandville Games was later designated as the first Paralympics in 1960 and the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation organized the Paralympic Games till 1984.[1] India made its Paralympics debut in 1968.[2] India's first medal came in the 1972 Games when Murlikant Petkar won the gold medal in the men's 50 meter freestyle event.[3][4] India missed the subsequent two Summer Paralympic Games and returned in the 1984 edition. The nation has appeared in every edition of the Summer Paralympic Games since then while it has never participated in the Winter Paralympic Games.[2] In the 1984 Games, Joginder Singh Bedi became the first Indian multi-medalist after he won a silver and two bronze medals in the athletics events. Bhimrao Kesarkar also won a silver medal in the javelin throw event to help record India's best finish till then with four medals.[5]
Early Paralympic Games (1988–2000)
The 1988 Seoul Paralympics was the first to use the Paralympics name and the event has been held in the same host city as the corresponding Summer Olympic Games since then. The Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) was formed in 1994, five years after the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) was established in 1989.[1][6] India continued to participate in each Paralympic Games thereafter, but failed to win a medal until the 2004 Games.[5]
Early 21st century (2004–2016)
In 2004, India won two medals with Devendra Jhajharia winning a gold medal in the javelin throw event and Rajinder Singh Rahelu securing a bronze medal in powerlifting.[5] The only Indian medal across the next two editions came from Girisha Nagarajegowda, who won a silver medal in the Men's high jump F42 event at the 2012 Games.[7]
India sent a delegation of 19 athletes for the 2016 Summer Paralympics.[8] India won four medals in the event and the Games also marked the first instance of India winning two gold medals. Mariyappan Thangavelu won the first gold medal in the Men's high jump T42 event. Devendra Jhajharia became the first Indian to win multiple gold medals after his win in the Men's javelin throw F46 event.[5][9] Deepa Malik and Varun Bhati were the other medalists with a silver and bronze medal respectively.[5] Malik became the first Indian woman medalist in the Paralympic Games.[10]
Tokyo Games (2020)
The Indian contingent for the 2020 Games consisted of 54 people across nine sports.[11] This was the nation's most successful Games ever with 19 medals including five gold, eight silver and six bronze medals before the Paris 2024 Games.[12] [13] Bhavina Patel won India's first medal, a silver in Table Tennis.[14] Avani Lekhara became the first Indian woman paralympic athlete to win a gold medal and she won another bronze medal to become the first Indian woman multiple medalist in Paralympic shooting.[15] Shooter Manish Narwal won another gold medal in 50 m pistol SH1 event and Singhraj Adhana won two shooting medals, a silver and a bronze.[16] Harvinder Singh became the first Indian to win a medal in Paralympic archery after he won a bronze medal in the men's recurve event.[17]
In badminton, Indian shuttlers won four medals including two gold medals by Pramod Bhagat and Krishna Nagar, a silver medal by Suhas Yathiraj and a bronze medal by Manoj Sarkar.[12] In athletics, India won eight medals including one gold, five silver and two bronze medals. Sumit Antil won a gold medal in Javelin throw F64 with a new world record. Mariyappan Thangavelu and Devendra Jhajharia won silver medals to go along with the gold medals they won in the 2016 Games.[12][5] This was Jhajharia third medal, which is the most by an Indian Para athlete in the Paralympic Games along with Joginder Singh Bedi.[18] Nishad Kumar and Praveen Kumar won silver medals and Sharad Kumar and Sundar Singh Gurjar were the other bronze medalists.[12][5]
Paris Games (2024)
India sent its largest contingent for the 2024 Games consisting of 84 people competing across 12 sports.[19] India has won 29 medals with seven gold, nine silver, and thirteen bronze medals making them the most successful Games ever.[20] Avani Lekhara won a gold medal in shooting for the second consecutive Games and became the first Indian woman paralympic athlete to win back-to-back gold and multiple medals.[21] Kumar Nitesh won a gold medal in badminton at the men's singles SL3 event.[22] Sumit Antil became the first Indian male athlete to defend a title at the Paralympics after he won the gold medal in the men's javelin throw F64 event, while setting two Paralympic records in the process.[23]
Shooter Manish Narwal won a silver medal, his second medal after his gold medal in the 2020 Games.[24] Nishad Kumar and Yogesh Kathuniya won silver medals at the men's high jump T47 and the men's discus throw F56 events respectively, in a repeat of their performance from Tokyo 2020.[25][26] Suhas Yathiraj also won a silver medal for the second consecutive Games in the men's singles SL4 para-badminton event.[27] Thulasimathi Murugesan won the first para-badminton silver medal at the women's singles SU5 event.[28] Ajeet Singh Yadav and Sundar Singh Gurjar won the silver and bronze medals respectively in the men's javelin throw F46 event. This was Gurjar's second medal after he finished third in the same event in the previous Games.[29] Sharad Kumar won his second Paralympic medal, a silver in the men's high jump T63 event. Mariyappan Thangavelu won a medal at his third successive Paralympic Games with a bronze in the same event.[30] Sachin Khilari won India's fifth athletics silver medal, finishing second in the men's shot put F46 event.[31]
Preethi Pal won India's first track medals at athletics by clinching two bronze medals in the women's 100m and 200m T35 events.[32] Mona Agarwal and Rubina Francis also won bronze medals in shooting.[20][33] Sheetal Devi became the youngest Indian Paralympic medalist after she won a bronze medal in the compound archery event along with Rakesh Kumar.[34] Manisha Ramadass and Nithya Sivan won bronze medals in women's para-badminton events.[35] Deepthi Jeevanji won the bronze medal at the women's 400 m T20 race and became the youngest Indian track medalist at the Paralympic Games.[36]
Medal table
| Games | Athletes | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 1960 Rome |
Did not participate | |||||
 1964 Tokyo | ||||||
 1968 Tel Aviv |
10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X |
 1972 Heidelberg |
10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 25 |
 1976 Toronto |
Did not participate | |||||
 1980 Arnhem | ||||||
 /  1984 Stoke Mandeville / New York |
5 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 37 |
 1988 Seoul |
2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X |
 1992 Barcelona |
9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X |
| 1996 Atlanta |
9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X |
 2000 Sydney |
4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X |
 2004 Athens |
12 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 53 |
 2008 Beijing |
5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | X |
| 2012 London |
10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 67 |
 2016 Rio de Janeiro |
19 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 43 |
| 2020 Tokyo |
54 | 5 | 8 | 6 | 19 | 24 |
 2024 Paris |
84 | 7 | 9 | 13 | 29 | 18 |
| 2028 Los Angeles |
Future events | |||||
| 2032 Brisbane | ||||||
| Total | 233 | 16 | 21 | 23 | 60 | 56 |
Medals by sport
| Sport | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
.svg){kind=small} Athletics |
8 | 16 | 13 | 35 |
.svg){kind=small} Badminton |
3 | 3 | 3 | 9 |
.svg){kind=small} Shooting |
3 | 2 | 4 | 9 |
.svg){kind=small} Archery |
1 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
.svg){kind=small} Swimming |
1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
.svg){kind=small} Table tennis |
0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
.svg){kind=small} Powerlifting |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
.svg){kind=small} Judo |
0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 16 | 21 | 23 | 60 |
List of medalists
Summarize
Perspective
Here is the complete list of Indian medalists at the Olympics over the years.[5]
Multiple medalists and milestones
| Athlete | Sport | Games |  Gold |
 Silver |
 Bronze |
Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Devendra Jhajharia | Athletics |
2004, 2016, 2020 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Avani Lekhara | Shooting |
2020, 2024 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Sumit Antil | Athletics |
2020, 2024 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Mariyappan Thangavelu | Athletics |
2016, 2020, 2024 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Manish Narwal | Shooting |
2020, 2024 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Praveen Kumar | Athletics |
2020, 2024 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Harvinder Singh | Archery |
2020, 2024 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Nishad Kumar | Athletics |
2020, 2024 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Yogesh Kathuniya | Athletics |
2020, 2024 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Suhas Yathiraj | Badminton |
2020, 2024 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Joginder Singh Bedi | Athletics |
1984 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Singhraj Adhana | Shooting |
2020 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Sharad Kumar | Athletics |
2020, 2024 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Preethi Pal | Athletics |
2024 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| Sundar Singh Gurjar | Athletics |
2020, 2024 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
Milestones
| Milestone | Athlete | Game(s) | Sport | Medal(s) | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First medalist | Murlikant Petkar | 1972 Heidelberg |
Swimming |
Gold |
[37] |
| First gold medalist | |||||
| First multi-medalist | Joginder Singh Bedi | 1984 Stoke Mandeville / New York |
Athletics |
Silver Bronze Bronze |
[38] |
| First multiple gold medalist | Devendra Jhajharia | 2004 Athens 2016 Rio de Janeiro |
Athletics |
Gold Gold |
[39] |
| First double podium finish | Mariyappan Thangavelu | 2016 Rio de Janeiro |
Athletics |
Gold |
[5] |
| Varun Singh Bhati | Bronze | ||||
| First woman medalist | Deepa Malik | 2016 Rio de Janeiro |
Athletics |
Silver |
[40] |
| First one-two finish | Manish Narwal | 2020 Tokyo |
Shooting |
Gold |
[5] |
| Singhraj Adhana | Silver | ||||
| First woman gold medalist | Avani Lekhara | 2020 Tokyo |
Shooting |
Gold Bronze |
[15] |
| First woman multi-medalist | |||||
| First woman multiple gold medalist | Avani Lekhara | 2020 Tokyo 2024 Paris |
Shooting |
Gold Gold |
[21] |
| First double podium finish in a women's event | Avani Lekhara |
2024 Paris |
Shooting |
Gold |
[5] |
| Mona Agarwal | Bronze |
See also
References
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