India’s para-athletes delivered a record-breaking performance at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, earning an unprecedented 29 medals, which included seven golds, nine silvers, and 13 bronzes. This exceptional achievement surpassed the nation’s previous best of 19 medals at Tokyo 2020. The medal count also marked India crossing the 50-medal mark in its Paralympic history.
84 Para Indian Athletes competed in record 12 disciplines at Paris 2024, which is an increase of three more sports than the number of competitions at Tokyo. The new events for the Indian team included para cycling, para rowing, and blind judo, making their introduction and increasing their participation into more sports in the nation.
Star shooter Avani Lekhara made it to the history books as the first Indian woman to win two gold medals in the Paralympic Games. She won back her title in the women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 with a world record, which also set a standard for excellence.
Athletics’ Domination: Gold, Silver, And Records
In athletics, India achieved its first-ever one-two finish, with Dharambir and Parnav Soorma taking gold and silver in the men’s club throw F51 event. Dharambir’s Asian record of 34.92m was a standout performance. Praveen Kumar added to the golden tally with an Asian record-breaking high jump in the T64 class.
Sumit Antil, javelin thrower, was the first Indian man to successfully retain his Paralympic title. The men’s javelin F64 broke his own Tokyo 2020 record when he chucked the javelin over 70.59m meters into the field.
Historic Moments for Indian Paralympians
Veteran high jumper Mariyappan Thangavelu became the first Indian to win medals at three consecutive Paralympics, adding a bronze in the T42 class to his Rio 2016 gold and Tokyo 2020 silver.
Preethi Pal clinched a bronze in the women’s 100m T35 race, a first-ever Paralympic medal for India in a track event. She further added another bronze in the 200m, making her the most successful Indian athlete in Paris 2024.
Archery Milestones
The 17-year-old armless archer Sheetal Devi made history as the youngest Paralympic medallist from India. She created a world record in the compound mixed team qualification event with Rakesh Kumar and won bronze in the event. Meanwhile, Harvinder Singh made history by becoming the first Paralympic gold medallist from India in archery, which has been added to India’s list of sports.
Deepthi Jeevanji, on the other hand, bagged a bronze in women’s 400m T20. She became the first intellectually impaired Indian athlete to win a Paralympic medal. In total, India secured four medals in track events.
India’s record-breaking performance at the Paris 2024 Paralympics reflects the determination, grit, and evolving infrastructure supporting para-athletes in the country.
Indian Medal Winners At Paris 2024 Paralympics
Shooting
1. Avani Lekhara – Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 – Gold
2. Mona Agarwal – Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 – Bronze
3. Manish Narwal – Men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 – Silver
4. Rubina Francis – Women’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 – Bronze
Athletics
5. Preethi Pal – Women’s 100m T35 – Bronze
6. Preethi Pal – Women’s 200m T35 – Bronze
7. Nishad Kumar – Men’s High Jump T47 – Silver
8. Yogesh Kathuniya – Men’s Discus Throw F56 – Silver
9. Sumit Antil – Men’s Javelin Throw F64 – Gold
10. Deepthi Jeevanji – Women’s 400m T20 – Bronze
11. Mariyappan Thangavelu – Men’s High Jump T63 – Bronze
12. Sharad Kumar – Men’s High Jump T63 – Silver
13. Ajeet Singh – Men’s Javelin Throw F46 – Silver
14. Sundar Singh Gurjar – Men’s Javelin Throw F46 – Bronze
15. Sachin Khilari – Men’s Shot Put F46 – Silver
16. Dharambir – Men’s Club Throw F51 – Gold
17. Parnav Soorma – Men’s Club Throw F51 – Silver
18. Praveen Kumar – Men’s High Jump T64 – Gold
19. Hokato Hotozhe Sema – Men’s Shot Put F57 – Bronze
20. Simran – Women’s 200m T12 – Bronze
21. Navdeep Singh – Men’s Javelin Throw F41 – Gold
Badminton
22. Nitesh Kumar – Men’s Singles SL3 – Gold
23. Thulasimathi Murugesan – Women’s Singles SU5 – Silver
24. Manisha Ramadass – Women’s Singles SU5 – Bronze
25. Suhas Yathiraj – Men’s Singles SL4 – Silver
26. Nithya Sre Sivan – Women’s Singles SH6 – Bronze
Archery
27. Rakesh Kumar / Sheetal Devi – Mixed Team Compound Open – Bronze
28. Sheetal Devi – Women’s Compound – Bronze
29. Harvinder Singh – Men’s Individual Recurve Open – Gold
