Highlights of the Paris Paralympics 2024: India wins 29 medals & Secured 18th position

India concluded the 2024 Summer Paralympics, also known as the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games – the 17th edition of the Summer Paralympic Games, with a record 29 medals (7 gold, 9 silver, and 13 bronze).  India is ranked 18th among the 170 participating nations.

• This marks India’s most successful performance in Paralympic history surpassing the 19-medal haul at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics.
• China topped the Medal tally with 220 medals (94 gold; 76 Silver and 50 Bronze) followed by Great Britain at 2nd place with 124 medals (49 golds, 44 Silver and 31 Bronze) and the United States of America (USA) at the 3rd place with 105 medals (36 Gold; 42 Silver and 27 Bronze).

2024 Paralympics: 

i.2024 Summer Paralympics held from 28th August 2024 to 8th September 2024 in Paris, France.

ii.This was the 1st time France hosted the Summer Paralympics and only the 2nd time the country hosted the Paralympics overall.

• Previously, France hosted the Paralympics in 1992 for the Winter Paralympics in Tignes and Albertville.

Top 5 at Medal Tally:

Note: Pakistan, Nepal, Vietnam, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Montenegro, and Mauritius ended the campaign at joint-bottom (79th rank) with 1 bronze medal.

India at 2024 Paralympics: 

i.Contingent: The Indian contingent at the 2024 Paralympics consists of 84 athletes (includes 32 Female athletes) competing across 12 sports in the Paralympic Games.  this was India’s largest ever contingent to the Paralympics.

ii.Chef de Mission:  Satya Prakash Sangwan, Vice President of the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI), was the Chef de Mission for India’s Paris 2024 Paralympic Contingent.

Points to Note: 

i.Indian para-athletes participated in three new sports at Paris 2024—para cycling, para rowing, and blind judo.

ii.Female athletes won a total of 10 medals, 1 gold, 1 silver, and 8 bronze.

iii.Team India achieved its best-ever single-day gain at the Paralympics, winning eight medals (2 Gold, 3 Silver and 3 bronze) in Paris 2024.

Indian mixed compound archery: Sheetal Devi & Rakesh Kumar sets new Paralympic record 

i.India’s Sheetal Devi and Rakesh Kumar clinched the bronze medal in the mixed compound open archery event at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.

ii.The duo broke World Record with a combined score of 1399 to set a new Paralympic Record at the Paris Games.

• Sheetal Dev, at 17, became India’s youngest Paralympic medallist in history. She was the only female armless archer at Paris 2024.
• Rakesh Kumar is a gold medallist at the Para World Championship and Asian Para Games.

Harvinder Singh wins India’s first Paralympic gold medal in Archery

i.Harvinder Singh won the gold medal in the Men’s individual recurve open event and secured India’s first-ever Paralympic gold medal in Archery.

ii.He previously won the bronze medal in the same category at the 2020 Tokyo Games and became the first Indian to win an archery medal.

Shooter Avani Lekhara becomes first woman to win 2 gold medals at Paralympics

i.Avani Lekhara won the gold medal in the Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 and became the first Indian woman to win two gold medals in the Games’ history.

• She previously won the gold under the same category at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
• Mona Agarwal won a bronze medal in the same event where Avani won gold.
• This was the 1st time India managed a double podium finish in the same event at the Paralympic Games.

ii.Avani is the second Indian after javelin thrower Devendra Jhajharia to win two gold medals at the Games.

• She scored 249.7 in the final – creating a new Paralympic record breaking the previous record of 249.6, set by her on her Games debut at Tokyo 2020.

Preethi Pal wins bronze in women’s T35 100m event, India’s first medal in track event at Paralympics

i.Preethi Pal won the bronze in the women’s 100m T35 class with her personal best timing of 14.21 seconds. she created history at the Paris 2024 Paralympics by becoming the 1st Indian athlete to win a Paralympic medal in track events.

ii.She also won the bronze in the women’s 200 T35 class at Paris 2024 with a personal best timing of 30.01s and became the first Indian woman to win two Paralympic medals in track and field events.

Other Noted Indian Medal Winners:

Shooting: 

i.Manish Narwal won a silver medal in P1 Men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 shooting event at Paris 2024 Paralympics finishing with a score of 234.9.

• He has previously won the gold medal in the 50m pistol event at Tokyo 2020.

Athletics: 

i.High jumper Nishad Kumar of T47 category clinched his second successive silver at the Paralympic Games with a season’s best effort of 2.04m in the finals.

• Nishad had also won a silver in Tokyo Paralympics in 2020.

ii.Yogesh Kathuniya won the silver medal in the men’s discus throw F56 event at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.

• This was Yogesh Kathuniya’s second Paralympic medal after winning a silver medal at Tokyo 2020.
• Yogesh is also a three-time Para World Championships medallist and a silver medal winner at the Asian Para Games 2023 in the same F56 category.

iii.Sumit Antil won the gold medal in the men’s javelin throw F64 class at Paris 2024 and became the first Indian male para-athlete to defend his title in the Paralympics.

• He has won a gold medal at Tokyo 2020 and also holds the world record of 73.29 in the F64 class.

iv.Deepthi Jeevanji made history at Paris 2024, becoming the first intellectually impaired Indian athlete to win a Paralympic medal with a bronze in the women’s 400m T20 class.

• She is the Para World Champion and the 2023 Asian Para Games gold medallist.

v.India’s Sharad Kumar and Mariyappan Thangavelu won the silver and bronze medals, respectively, in the men’s high jump T63 class. This was also India’s fourth double podium at the Paris 2024 Games.

• This was Sharad Kumar’s second Paralympic medal after winning the bronze medal at Tokyo 2020.
• Mariyappan Thangavelu has also become the first Indian para-athlete to win medals at three consecutive Games – gold medal at Rio 2016 and silver at Tokyo 2020.

vi.India’s Ajeet Singh and Sundar Singh Gurjar won the silver and bronze medals, respectively, in the men’s javelin throw F46 class.

• Sundar holds the world record of 68.60m he had set to win the gold medal at the Asian Para Games and also won bronze at Tokyo 2020.

vii.World Sachin Sarjerao Khilari won the silver medal in the men’s shot put F46 event at the Paris 2024 Paralympics with a record throw of 16.32m.

• He is a two-time reigning champion and a gold medal winner at the Asian Para Games 2023.

viii.Dharambir and Pranav Soorma won gold and silver medals, respectively, in the men’s club throw F51 class at the Paris 2024 Paralympics making it India’s first one-two finish in athletics at the Games.

• Dharambir finished ninth at the Rio 2016 and eighth at Tokyo 2020 and secured a bronze medal at the Para World Championships 2024 in Japan.

ix.Kapil Parmar made history at Paris 2024, becoming the first Indian to win a Paralympic medal in judo with a bronze in the men’s -60kg J1 class.

• He had won silver medal in 2022 Asian Games in the same category.
• The judo bronze was India’s 25th medal at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.

x.Praveen Kumar secured victory in the men’s high jump T64 class with an Asian record of 2.08m at the Paris 2024 Paralympics winning India’s sixth gold medal.

• He also won the silver medal at Tokyo 2020 with 2.07m jump, which was also an Asian record three years ago.

xi.Navdeep Singh won a gold in the men’s javelin throw F41 class at Paris 2024 with a new Paralympic record of 47.32m to register India’s first-ever medal in the category.

• This was India’s 29th medal at the ongoing Paralympics and 17th in para-athletics.

xii.India’s Hokato Hotozhe Sema won the bronze medal in the men’s shot put F57 class.

• This was his debut in the Paralympic Games. He won the bronze medal at the Asian Para Games in 2023.

xiii.India’s Simran clinched a bronze medal in the women’s 200m T12 final at the Paris 2024 Paralympics

• This is India’s first medal in this category and only the fourth medal overall in track events at the Paralympics, all of which were achieved in the current edition.

Badminton:

i.India’s Nitesh Kumar won his first Gold medal in the Paralympics by defeating Tokyo 2020 silver medallist Daniel Bethell of Great Britain in the men’s singles badminton SL3 class.

ii.Nithya Sre Sivan won the bronze medal for India in the newly-introduced women’s singles badminton SH6 class at the Paris 2024 Paralympics.

• It was India’s eighth medal of the day and fifth in badminton, all won on the same day.
• India won four medals in badminton at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.

iii.Suhas Yathiraj secured the silver medal in the men’s singles badminton SL4 class. Yathiraj also became the first Indian badminton player to win medals at both Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024.

iii.Thulasimathi Murugesan and Manisha Ramadass won silver and bronze medals, respectively, in the women’s singles badminton SU5 class at the Paris 2024 Paralympics

• Thulasimathi Murugesan became the only Indian woman para shuttler to win a silver medal at the Paralympics.

Para Shuttler Pramod Bhagat Suspended For 18 Months, To Miss Paris Paralympics

Tokyo gold medallist para shuttler Pramod Bhagat has been suspended for 18 months due to whereabouts failure and missed the Paris Paralympic Games.

• Pramod Bhagat was found breaching the committee’s anti-doping regulations. Within 12 months, Bhagat had three ‘whereabouts failures’ against him.

India’s Flag Bearers: 

Opening Ceremony:

Indian para-athletes Sumit Antil and Bhagyashri Jadhav have been named joint flag-bearers for the Paris 2024 Paralympics Opening Ceremony.

• Sumit Antil is the reigning javelin throw Paralympic champion in the men’s F64 category from Tokyo 2020. He is also a two-time world champion and holds the world record in the category.
• Bhagyashri Jadhav, on the other hand, won the silver medal in women’s shot-put event in the F34 category at the Asian Para Games.

Closing ceremony:

Archer Harvinder Singh and sprinter Preethi Pal will be India’s flag-bearers at the Paris 2024 Paralympics closing ceremony.

• Both Harvinder and Preethi created history in the event as India reached their highest Paralympic medal tally.
• Harvinder Singh became the first Indian archer to win a gold medal at the Paralympics and Preethi Pal became the first Indian athlete to win a track medal at the Paralympics.

List of Indian Medal Winners:

Svayam Partners with Paris Paralympics 2024 to Enhance Accessibility for Indian Athletes

i.The Paralympics Committee of India (PCI) has named Svayam as the official accessibility partner for the Paris Paralympics 2024.

• Svayam will focus on making transportation accessible for the Indian Para Contingent.

ii.The collaboration with Svayam will provide accessible transportation for the Indian contingent from the place of residence of the athletes to the airport, apart from transport during their training.

iii.Special vehicles that can accommodate athletes with their wheelchairs will play an important role in their transportation, helping avoid any discomfort.

IndusInd Bank Partners with Paralympic Committee for Paris 2024

IndusInd Bank partnered with the Paralympic Committee of India to become the official banking partner.

• Through this partnership, the bank will improve para-sports by providing resources, creating inclusive environments and upgrading facilities for athletes with disabilities.

SBI Life Insurance partners with the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) as a Gold Sponsor for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games

SBI Life Insurance partners with the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) as a Gold Sponsor for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

• By partnering with PCI, SBI Life aims to foster independence in thinking, supporting inclusivity in sports and encouraging individuals to pursue their dreams, regardless of the challenges they face.

About Paralympics: 
i.The first ever Paralympic Games were held in 1960 at Rome, Italy.
ii.The Paralympic symbol consists of three agitos, coloured red, blue, and green (from the Latin meaning “I move”).
iii.Motto of the 2024 Paralympic Games – Games Wide Open
iv.President of the International Olympic Committee– Andrew Parsons
v.President of the Paralympic Committee of India – Devendra Jhajharia