On Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed India’s Paralympic champions to his residence, celebrating their unprecedented achievement of 29 medals at the recent Paris Games.
In a 43-second video shared by the sports ministry, Modi is seen offering his congratulations before engaging in a heartfelt discussion with the athletes. The event also saw the presence of Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) head Devendra Jhajharia.
MUST READ: ‘I Am Here To Find Solution For Kashmir Issue’: Engineer Rashid After Released On Bail, Who Is He?
Among the distinguished guests were Avani Lekhara, who clinched her second consecutive gold in the women’s 10m air rifle (SH1), and visually-impaired judoka Kapil Parmar, India’s pioneering Paralympic medalist in judo.Parmar could be seen getting his medal signed by Modi.
India gave its best-ever performance in the Paralympic Games by winning 29 medals, including an unprecedented seven gold, nine silver and 13 bronze medals.
The 84-strong contingent surpassed the previous best of 19 medals that was achieved in the Tokyo Games three years ago.
The stupendous performance included many firsts such as medals in track events of athletics, and a gold in archery (through Harvinder Singh).
Since returning to the country, the Paralympians have been feted by the government with sports minister Mandaviya handing out Rs 75 lakh to the gold-medallists, Rs 50 lakh to the silver winners and Rs 30 lakh to the athletes who bagged bronze in the Games.
Those excelling in mixed teams events, like armless archer Sheetal Devi, who won a bronze along with Rakesh Kumar, got richer by Rs 22.5 lakh.
