Thanks to plenty of firsts and proven performers, India emerges as Paralympic power in Paris
Oustanding performance at the Paralympics, securing a record 29 medals, including seven golds. The athletes excelled in track and field events, archery, judo, and club throw. Government support and increased spending on training played a crucial role in this success.
Paris: Differently-abled but exceptionally resolute, India‘s para-athletes would look back at their Paralympics campaign with pride as most of the established names lived up to expectations and many talented greenhorns made the big stage their own in a record-smashing medal haul of 29. Seven of these 29 medals are gold, which is another first for the country that started to make its presence felt only in the 2016 edition, where it won four medals. The upswing in performance after that has been meteoric with Tokyo yielding 19, a number that was surpassed this time.
Not to forget, a lot of medal-winning performances here were record efforts and personal bests, demonstrating that the athletes have made significant progress as far as their self-belief is concerned.
The 29 medals in five sports, including a whopping 17 at the track and field events, have ensured that the country will end in the top 20 of the mega-event that was once again dominated by China with over 200 medals.