Kolkata : Paris Paralympics is set to start on August 28. Indian Contingent has sent 84 athletes, their highest ever.
India won their highest ever medal in Tokyo Paralympics 2020 , with 19 medals. This year with more athletes they’ll look to break that tally too.
Here are India’s top 10 Medals prospects in Paris Paralympics 2024 :
(1) Sumit Antil
Event – Javelin Throw F64
Sumit Antil shook world record 3 times in Tokyo Paralympics 2020, winning Gold. The 2 time world champion also bettered his own record winning consecutive golds in 2022 Para Games.He’s a major medal prospects for India
(2) Avani Lekhara
Events – R2 – Women’s 10m Air Rifle Std SH1, R3 – Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prn SH1, RB – Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Pos. SH1
Avani created history becoming 1st Indian woman to win Paralympic Gold medal, in Tokyo Paralympics 2020.
She won medals in 2 events gold in women’s R2 10m air rifle standing SH1 and bronze in women’s R8 50m rifle 3 positions SH1.
She scored 249.6 points in the R2 10m air rifle standing SH1 final, setting a new Paralympic record and tying the world record.She’ll eye more medals in Paris Paralympics 2024.
(3) Krishna Nagar
Event – Para Badminton Men’s Singles SH6
Krishna Nagar, Tokyo Paralympics 2020 Gold medalist, will be a medal prospective in Men’s Badminton of Paris Paralympics 2024.
Nagar beat Hong Kong’s Chu Man Kai 21-17, 16-21, 21-17 in the men’s singles SH6 final to win the gold medal at the previous edition.
(4) Yogesh Kathuniya
Event – Men’s Discus Throw F56
Yogesh bagged Silver medal in Tokyo Paralympics 2020. Yogesh has also won two silver medals at the world championships in 2023 and 2024. He’s a medal prospect.
(5) Bhavinaben Patel
Event – Para table tennis: Women’s Singles – WS4 and Women’s Doubles – WD10.
She bagged a silver in women’s singles class 4 at Tokyo 2020.
Since then, she has also won gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and bronze medal at the 2022 Asian Para Games. She’s another medal prospect.
(6) Sheetal Devi
Event – Para Archery – Women’s Individual Compound Open and Mixed Team Compound Open
Sheetal Devi is first and the only international para archery champion without upper limbs.
Despite these hurdles, she won two gold medals in the 2022 Asian Para Games (women’s compound bow) in the mixed doubles and women’s individual categories.
On top of the two golds, she also won silver in the women’s doubles compound event.The youngster is a major medal prospect in Paris Paralympics 2024.
(7) Deepthi Jeevanji
Event – Women’s 400m T20
Deepthi is the only Indian athlete in Paris Paralympics 2024 to feature in Intellectual Impairment (T20) Category.
She’s an Asian World Record holder with 56.18s in the World Para Athletics Championships final in Kobe this year.
She’s a huge Gold medal prospect in this Paralympics.
(8) Suhas Yathiraj
Event – Para Badminton – Men’s Singles SL4, Mixed Doubles SL3-SU5
World Number 1 in Singles S4, Suhas will eye for medal in Paris Paralympics 2024.He won Silver in Tokyo Paralympics 2020.
At the 2016 Asian Para Badminton Championship, he became the first Indian bureaucrat to win a professional International Badminton Championship, clinching gold after beating Hary Susanto of Indonesia in the final.
(9) Manish Narwal
Event – P1 – Men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1
Manish Narwal set a new Paralympic record as he bagged gold medal in P4 – Mixed 50m Pistol SH1 event at the 2020 Tokyo Games.After qualifying in 7th position, Narwal topped the final with a score of 218.2
Manish also won a bronze medal in P1 – Men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 event at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games.
(10) Mariyappan Thangavelu
Event – Men’s High Jump – T63
Mariyappan competed in the 2016 Rio Summer Paralympics and the 2020 Tokyo Summer Paralympics in the men’s high jump T42 and T63 categories, respectively, winning the gold and silver medals in the finals.
Since then, he has also won a silver medal at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games and gold at the 2024 World Championships.He’s a major medal prospect.
Apart from these top 10 , many other medal prospects are also there to break 19 medals tally of previous edition, creating history.
