Prime Minister Narendra Modi met and congratulated India’s Paralympic team on Thursday at his residence 7, Lok Kalyan Marg, for their remarkable performance at the Paris Games.
The Indian contingent wrapped up its Paralympics campaign in Paris on Sunday, September 8, setting a new record by securing 29 medals, which included seven golds, nine silvers, and 13 bronze. This is the highest medal count for India in the history of the Paralympics, surpassing the previous record of 19 medals achieved at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. India finished the event in 18th place overall.
Several records were broken, and new milestones were achieved by Indian athletes at the Paralympic Games. Avani Lekhara, a para-shooter, became the first Indian woman to win two Paralympic gold medals, successfully defending her women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 shooting title with a world record score of 249.7 points.
In a historic moment, India secured a one-two finish in a para-athletics event for the first time, with Dharambir and Parnav Soorma winning gold and silver, respectively, in the men’s club throw F51 event. These were among India’s first-ever medals in this sport, and Dharambir also set an Asian record of 34.92 meters.
Harvinder Singh became India’s first-ever archery champion across both the Olympics and Paralympics, securing the gold in the individual recurve para-archery event against Poland’s Lukasz Ciszek.
Sumit Antil, India’s javelin throw ace, became the first Indian male to defend his Paralympics title, winning back-to-back gold medals in the F64 event with a stunning Paralympic record-breaking throw of 70.59 meters. He broke his own previous record set during the Tokyo 2020 not once, but thrice.