Tokyo is hosting the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games from 24 August 2021. After the most successful Olympics for India, the Indian Paralympic contigent has already started competing in the Tokyo Paralympics. Till now, India has not won a single medal but hopefully, India will win some medals this year as well. Before we get to know about the upcoming Indian medalists, let's take a look at all the Indian medalists at the Paralympics.

Murlikant Petkar

The first ever Indian medalist at the Paralympics is Murlikant Petkar. He won the first gold medal for the country in Paralympics In the 1972 Heidelberg Paralympics. In the 50 m freestyle swimming event, he made a world record in 37.33 seconds. The Indian athlete did not Stop himself in the boundaries of swimming only. Firstly, he participated in the javelin, precision javelin throw, and slalom. Secondly, people formed exceptionally and was a finalist in all these three events. Before jumping into the world of Paralympics, He was a private jawan of the Craftsmen rank in the Crops of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers in the Indian Army. Cfn Petkar got severely injured due to bullets In the world against Pakistan in 1965 and this led to his disability.

Bhimrao kesarkar

In the 1984 Stoke Mandeville/ New York Paralympics, Indian athletes brought 4 medals home and Bhimrao Kesarkar was one of them. In the 1984 Stoke Mandeville/New York Paralympics, he won a silver medal in the men's javelin L6. India finished at the 37th position out of 54 participating countries in that year.

Read also: Tokyo Paralympics 2020: Starting date, fixture and everything you need to know

Joginder Singh Bedi

Indian Paralympic athlete Joginder Singh Bedi brought the Silver medal home at the men's Shot Put event in the 1984 Stoke Mandeville/ New York Paralympics. Also in the same event, he won a bronze medal at the Discus throw L6 and Javelin throw L6. As an individual at Paralympics Games, he is the winner of the most number of medals till now.

Devendra Jhajharia

Devendra Jharjharia is the first-ever Indian Paralympic athlete to win two gold medals. For the first time at the 2004 Athens Paralympics, he brought the gold home and the second time was in the 2016 Rio Paralympics in Javelin throw. In the 2016 Rio Paralympics, he broke his own record with a throw of 63.97 m. He lost his left hand when he accidentally touched a live cable at the age of 8. RD Singh, his coach, and Dronacharya Awardee noticed him in a school competition and then started coaching him. In the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, he made his international debut.

Play Tokyo Olympic 2020 Quiz to test your knowledge of India's most successful Olympic journey

Rajinder Singh Rahelu

Rajinder Singh Rahelu won a bronze medal in the 2004 Athens Paralympics in the 56 kg category. The Indian powerlifter suffers from infantile paralysis after getting polio at the age of 8 months only. Surinder Rana, his friend and another powerlifter encouraged him a lot and motivated him to play this sport.

Girish N Gowda

Girish N Gowda brought a silver home in the 2012 London Paralympics at the men's High Jump F-42 category. He was born with a disability in his left leg, but he never let that come into the way of his dreams. The Paralympic high jumper is the recipient of the Arjuna Award and Padma Shri as well.

Mariyappan Thangavelu

Mariappan Thangavelu made a leap of 1.89 meters at the men's High Jump T-42 event and won the Gold at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. At the age of just 5 years, he lost one of his legs after a bus ran over it. After all this, he worked hard to achieve his dreams and brought glory to him and his nation.

Varun Singh Bhati

Another Indian Paralympic to win a medal in Men's High Jump F42 in the 2016 Rio Paralympics is Varun Singh Beti. The 21-year-old brought the bronze home and recorded his personal best jump of 1.86m. At a very young age, got diseased with polio. He was a student of St Joseph's school, Greater Noida and his talent was recognized by the school itself. The former National level athlete, Satyanarayana was his coach.

Deepa Malik

Deepa Malik is the first Indian woman medalist in a Paralympics event. She brought the Silver medal home in the Shot Put event at the 2016 Rio Paralympics. Due to a spinal tumour, she became paraplegic. Firstly, she is the first person who received the license for an invalid rally vehicle. Secondly, she is the first physically challenged person who received an official rally license from the Federation Motor Sports Club of India. Lastly, the Indian athlete participated in many rallies and promoted awareness of the facts and myths related to disabilities.

Bhavina Patel

Table tennis player Bhavina Patel created history for India in the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. Not only she became the first Indian table tennis player to qualify for the finals, she became the first medalist also.

Bhavina's journey was exceptional as she defeated multiple world champions to be in the final. She defeated World No. 9, 8 and 3 to make her way up to the semi-finals of the event. But, the dream could not continue as she was beaten by 0-3 to world number one Chinese paddler Ying Zhou in the women's singles class 4 final.

After Deepa Malik, she is now the second Indian woman to win a Paralympic medal.

With 29 medals already at Paris Paralympics 2024, Indian Para athletes have created history by clinching most medals at a single Paralympics edition for India, crossing their previous record of 19 medals at Tokyo Paralympics 2021. India so far have won 7 Gold medals, 9 silver medals and 13 bronze medals at the Paris Paralympics 2024. 

Avani Lekhara, Sumit Antil and Nitesh Kumar won the Gold medals in Paris. Avani broke the Paralympic record with 249.7 points in the Women's 10m AR Standing SH1 event while Nitesh Kumar grabbed the gold in Men's Singles SL3 by beating Daniel Bethell in the final. Sumit Antil then broke the Paralympics record in Men's Javelin Throw - F64 with a 70.59m throw to clinch the Gold.

Read Also | India At Paralympics 2024: Inspirational Stories of India’s Paralympians

Both Avani and Sumit became the only the third Indian to win mutiple Gold medals at the Paralympics while 9 other Para Athletes also became multimedalists at Paralympic Games for India.

Praveen Kumar, Dharambir, Harvinder Singh were the other Indians to clinch Gold medals at the Paralympic Games 2024. Praveen won the Gold in Men's High Jump T64, Dharambir won Gold in Men's Club throw F51 while Harvinder Singh became the first Indian to win Gold in Para-Achrey in Paralympics.

On day 10, Mandeep Singh won India's 7th Gold medal by clinching a Pralaympic record in Men's Javelin Throw F-41.

India's medals at Paris Paralympics so far

India's medals at Paris Paralympics by sports

Indian Medalists at Paris Paralympics

India At Paralympics: Medals by Sports in History

India At Paralympics: Medals by every edition

Games	Athletes	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total	Rank
1960 Rome	Did not participate
1964 Tokyo
1968 Tel Aviv	10	0	0	0	0	X
1972 Heidelberg	10	1	0	0	1	25
1976 Toronto	Did not participate
1980 Arnhem
/  1984 Stoke Mandeville / New York	5	0	2	2	4	37
1988 Seoul	2	0	0	0	0	X
1992 Barcelona	9	0	0	0	0	X
1996 Atlanta	9	0	0	0	0	X
2000 Sydney	4	0	0	0	0	X
2004 Athens	12	1	0	1	2	53
2008 Beijing	5	0	0	0	0	X
2012 London	10	0	1	0	1	67
2016 Rio de Janeiro	19	2	1	1	4	43
2020 Tokyo	54	5	8	6	19	24
2024 Paris	84	7	9	13	29	TBA

All the data are accurate as of 6 September 2024.

The Summer Paralympics, now entering its 17th edition, will begin from 28 August to 8 September 2024. Paris, the capital of France, will host this prestigious event. A record 84 athletes from India will compete at the 2024 Paris Paralympics. Representing the nation across 12 sports in the French capital, Indian para athletes will aim to surpass the 19 medals won by India at the Tokyo Paralympics three years ago.

Here are some inspirational stories of India’s Paralympians who will complete for India at Paralympics 2024.

Also Read: India at Paralympics 2024: Indian Para Athletes to watch out for

India at Paralympics 2024

1. Soman Rana

Paralympian Soman Rana suffered a mine blast injury and lost his right leg while serving with his unit on December 1, 2006. While most people would consider losing a limb to be the end of their sporting career, Rana, true to the spirit of the Indian Army, overcame his fears and continued his para-athletics training with tenacity. 

Rana, now 41, will complete for the seated shot put in the F-57 category at the Paris Paralympics 2024.

2. Kasthuri Rajamani

At 39, when many athletes reach the twilight of their careers, para powerlifter Kasthuri Rajamani of Tamil Nadu is showing unwavering commitment and resilience, which have enabled her to secure a berth at the Paralympics for the first time. Kasthuri (women’s 67kg) achieved qualification by finishing seventh in the ‘Road to Paris’ rankings.

After the end of the Tbilisi World Cup – the final qualifying competition where Kasthuri failed to register a valid lift – she was placed ninth in the Paris rankings, with only eight athletes making the final cut. Fortunately, she managed to qualify after a few players in her category shifted to other weight categories, helping her jump two spots.

3. Sarita Adhana

Sarita Adhana is an Indian paralympic archer. She qualified for the Summer Paralympics in Paris in the women's Individual compound event of Archery competitions. In 2023, she won a gold and bronze medals at the international championships.

Indian archers won six quota spots for the Paris Paralympics in addition to three new world records in the ranking rounds and medals. Sarita was part of all these records. Sarita not only broke the previous record for the women’s compound solo event with a score of 697, but she also worked alongside Kumar and Sheetal to beat the record for the mixed compound team event and the women’s compound team event.

4. Sharad Kumar

Hailing from Bihar, Para-High Jumper Sharad Kumar contracted polio at the tender age of two at a local eradication drive. While growing up he did not let his disability affect him by focussing on his studies before deciding to take up high jumping.

In 2019, Sharad secured a quota for the Tokyo Paralympics and won a Bronze medal in Tokyo Paralympics Games. Despite carrying an injury as well as dealing with incessant rain during the event, Sharad heroically leapt to a Paralympic bronze medal. He is also an Asian Para Games gold medalist.

Also Read: India At Paralympics 2024: Full fixture, schedule and streaming details

5. Arvind Malik

A discus thrower, Arvind Malik had to switch to shot put when a medical revision found that his physical disability didn’t have a category in the discus throw discipline. After moving to shot put, Malik represented India at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. He finished seventh with a throw of 13.48m. 

Arvind had lost use of his left leg after he was hit on his head by a ball as a child leading to nerve damage. He will complete in F35 category at the Paris Paralympics.

6. Sandeep Chaudhary

Sandeep Chaudhary, the world record holder in men's javelin throw, injured his hip when he was 12. Though the damage wasn't serious, due to lack of medical facilities, he couldn't get immediate treatment which resulted in a permanent damage. Sandeep, the son of an army officer, aspired to join the Indian armed forces like his father but due to the unfortunate incident, he had to give up on his dream.

Ever since he was young, Sandeep tried his hand at multiple sports before deciding to pursue javelin throw as a professional sportsperson. He represented India at the 2018 Asian Para Games, where he won a gold medal and set a new world record of 60.01m. At World Para Athletics' 2021, Chaudhary won with a gold medal with 61.22m. At the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships Chaudhary also won the gold medal with a world record throw of 66.18m.

7. Bhagyashree Madhavrao Jadhav

Hailing from Mahrashtra, Bhagyashree Jadhav has been a consistent performer on the international stage. She won a silver medal in the shot put F34 category at the 2022 Asian Para Games and finished seventh at the Tokyo Paralympics. Jadhav’s journey in sports began in 2017, and she quickly made her mark with medals at various international events, including the Feja World Cup and World Para Athletics Games.

Bhagyashree will be India's flagbearers along with Sumit Antil for the Paris Paralympics 2024, leading the nation’s contingent of 84 athletes.

8. Sakshi Kasana

Sakshi Kasana is one of India's emerging para-athletes in the javelin throw event. Kasana was born with a congenital deformity in her right leg, which affected her growth and mobility. She faced discrimination and bullying from her peers and society. She found solace in sports, especially in athletics. She joined the Sports Authority of India centre in Ghaziabad and trained under coach Amit Kumar. 

Kasana won a bronze medal in the women's javelin throw F64 event at the Asian Para Games 2023. She threw a distance of 24.77m. She also qualified for the Tokyo Paralympics 2020, where she finished ninth. Kasana will compete in F55 category in Paris.

Also Read: India at Paralympics: How many medals has India won so far?

9. Karamjyoti Dalal

Karamjyoti Dalal is one of India's most consistent para-athletes in the discus throw event. Dalal was an able-bodied athlete who represented Haryana at the national level in judo and kabaddi. However, she suffered a spinal injury after falling from a terrace in 2008, which left her with limited mobility in her lower limbs. She went into depression and contemplated suicide. She was encouraged by her family and friends to take up para-athletics as a way of coping with her condition.

The 36-year-old discus thrower from Rohtak bagged a silver medal in the women's discus throw F55/56/57 event at the Asian Para Games 2023. She threw a distance of 19.61m. She also won a bronze medal at the 2017 World Para Athletics Championships in London.

After the Paris Olympics 2024, now Paris Paralympics is going to start from 28th August. The 84 contingent will compete for India at Paralympics 2024 which will run till September 8. This time Indian athletes are participating in 12 sports. This is India's largest contingent so far in the Paralympics. Bhagyashree Jadhav and Sumit Antil will be India's flag bearers.

So before the start of the games, let's take a look at the medals India won at the Paralympics so far.

Also Read: India's largest contingent to compete in Paris Paralympics 2024

India won 31 Paralympic medals so far

The Paralympic Games started in 1960. India sent an Indian contingent for the first time in 1968. The Paralympic Games started for India long after the Summer Olympics. Despite this, the country has so far won 31 medals in the Paralympics, including 9 gold, 12 silver and 10 bronze medals. India has participated in 11 editions so far.

India got 19 medals in Tokyo Paralympics

54 athletes had participated in the Tokyo Paralympics and won a maximum of 19 medals which included 5 gold, 8 silver, and 6 bronze medals. Out of a total of 162 nations, India had finished 24th in the overall medal tally at Tokyo, while its accomplishment of 19 medals is ranked 20th based on the number of medals.

Murlikant Petkar won the first medal

Murlikant Petkar, the hero of the 1965 Indo-Pak war, is India's first Paralympic medal winner. Murlikant Petkar won the gold medal in swimming in the Men's 50m Freestyle 3 event at the 1972 Heidelberg Games.

Petkar, a soldier of the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME) in the Indian Army, was a boxer. He became paralyzed after being shot during the India-Pakistan war of 1965. After this, he started swimming. In 2018, he was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award.

Joginder Singh Bedi captured 3 medals

In the 1984 Paralympics, Bhimrao Kesarkar won the silver medal in men's javelin throw L6 with a throw of 34.55m. While Joginder Singh Bedi had won silver medal in Men's Shotput L6, a bronze medal in Men's Javelin Throw L6 event, and bronze medal in Men's Discus Throw L6 event.

India at Paralympics 2004

India has participated in every Paralympic Games since 1984, but the next medal came in the 2004 Paralympics in Athens. Devendra Jhajharia won the gold medal in the men's javelin throw F44/46 event. At the same time, Indian powerlifter Rajinder Singh Rahelu won the bronze medal in the men's 56 kg weight category by lifting 157.5 kg. 

In London 2012, High jumper Girisha N Gowda won the silver medal for India. 

Also Read: Largest refugee team set to compete at Paris Paralympics

India at Paralympics 2016

Tamil Nadu's Mariyappan Thangavelu won the gold medal in the men's high jump F42 event at the Rio 2016 Paralympics. He had jumped 1.89m. At the same time, Varun Singh Bhati won the bronze medal in the high jump competition. 

Avani Lekhara creates history

Avani Lekhara won the gold medal in her first Paralympics. She set a new Paralympic record of 249.6 in the women's 10m air rifle shooting standing SH1 final in Tokyo. With this, Avani became the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic gold medal.

India at Paralympics: India's Medals so far

After the conclusion of the Paris Olympics 2024, the city will now host the Paralympic Games from August 28. This time India is sending its largest contingent to the Paris Paralympics 2024 to be held from 28 August to 8 September. 

Indian Paralympic Committee (PCI) President Devendra Jhajharia said on Tuesday that India is sending its 84-member contingent in 12 sports to the Paris Paralympics 2024.

Also Read: Largest refugee team set to compete at Paris Paralympics

Amit is the most experienced, Sheetal is the youngest

Amit Kumar Saroha is the most experienced player in India's 84-member contingent, while Sheetal Devi is the youngest. Discus thrower Amit is going to participate in his fourth Olympics, while 17-year-old Sheetal from Jammu and Kashmir will contend for a medal in archery. Sheetal had won two gold and one silver medal in the Para Asian Games 2022.

10 para-athletes from Rajasthan

10 athletes from Rajasthan will contend for medals in the Paris Paralympics 2024. Avani Lekhara, Mona Agarwal, Nihal Singh, Rudransh Khandelwal, and Amir Ahmad Bhat will present the challenge in the para shooting. 

Sundar Singh Gurjar and Sandeep will participate in athletics, Anita in rowing, Shyam Sundar Swami in archery, and Krishna Nagar in badminton. Krishna is the defending champion and will defend the title in his category.

India showed their best-ever performance in Tokyo Paralympics

India showed an excellent performance at the Tokyo Paralympics where they had won 19 medals. India sent a contingent of 54 Indian athletes in Tokyo. In addition, India also won five gold medals at that tournament, which led to their best-ever finish, 24th position, at the Paralympics.

Also Read: Hockey India decides to retire jersey No. 16 in honor of goalkeeper PR Sreejesh

Indian athletes for the Paris Paralympics 2024:

Para Archery

• Harvinder Singh: Men's Recurve
• Pooja: Women's Recurve
• Rakesh Kumar: Men's Compound
• Shyam Sundar Swami: Men's Compound
• Sarita: Women's Compound
• Sheetal Devi: Women's Compound

Para Athletics

• Deepthi Jeevanji: Women's 400m T20 
• Simran: Women's 100m T12, Women's 200m T12
• Preethi Pal: Women's 100m T35, Women's 200m T35
• Rakshita Raju: Women's 1500m T11
• Dilip Mahadu: Men's 400m T47
• Sumit: Men's javelin Throw - F64
• Sandeep: Men's javelin Throw - F64
• Ajeet Singh: Men's javelin Throw - F46
• Rinku: Men's javelin Throw - F46
• Navdeep: Men's javelin Throw - F41
• Parveen Kumar: Men's javelin Throw - F57
• Sandeep Sanjiy Sargar: Men's javelin Throw - F64
• Sundar Singh Gurjar: Men's javelin Throw - F46
• Dipesh Kumar: Men's javelin Throw - F54
• Bhavanaben Ajabaji Chaudhary: Women's javelin Throw - F46
• Yogesh Kathuniya: Men's Discus Throw - F56
• Kanchan Lakhani: Women's Discus Throw - F53
• Karamjyoti: Women's Discus Throw - F55
• Sakshi Kasana: Women's Discus Throw - F55
• Dharambir: Men's Club Throw - F51
• Pranav Soorma: Men's Club Throw - F51
• Amit Kumar: Men's Club Throw - F51
• Praveen Kumar: Men's High jump -T64
• Nishad Kumar: Men's High Jump -T47
• Mariyappan Thangevelu: Men's High Jump -T63
• Shailesh Kumar: Men's High Jump -T63
• Sharad Kumar: Men's High Jump -T63
• Ram Pal: Men's High Jump -T47
• Sachin Sarjerao: Men's Shot Put - F46
• Manu: Men's Shot Put - F37
• Ravi Rangoli: Men's Shot Put - F40
• Mohd Yasser: Men's Shot Put - F46
• Rohit Kumar: Men's Shot Put - F46
• Arvind: Men's Shot Put - F35
• Soman Rana: Men's Shot Put - F57
• Hokato Hotazhe Sena: Men's Shot Put - F57
• Bhagyashri Madhavrao Jadhav: Women's Shot Put - F34
• Amisha Rawat: Women's Shot Put - F46

Para-Badminton 

• Manoj Sarkar: Men's Singles SL3
• Nitesh Kumar: Men's Singles SL3, Mixed Doubles SL3-SU5
• Suhas Yathiraj: Men's Singles SL4, Mixed Doubles SL3-SU5
• Tarun: Men's Singles SL4
• Sukant Kadam: Men's Singles SL4
• Krishna Nagar: Men's Singles SH6
• Sivarajan Solaimalai: Men's Singles SH6, Mixed Doubles SH6
• Manasi Joshi: Women's Singles SL3
• Mandeep Kaur: Women's Singles SL3
• Palak Kohli: Women's Singles SL4, Mixed Doubles SL3-SU5
• Manisha Ramdass: Women's Singles SU5
• Thulasimathi Murugesan: Women's Singles SU5, Mixed Doubles SL3-SU5
• Nithya Sre Sivan: Women's Singles SH6, Mixed Doubles SH6

Para Canoe

• Prachi Yadav: Women's Va'a Single 200m VL2
• Yash Kumar: Men's Kayak Single 200m -KL1
• Pooja Ojha: Women's Kayak Single 200m -KL1

Para Cycling

• Arshad Shaik: Road - Men's C2 Ind. TimeTrial, Road - Men's C1-3 Road Race, Track - Men's C1-3 1000m Time Trial, Track - Men's C2 3000m Ind. Pursuit
• Jyoti Gaderiya: Road - Women's C1-3 Ind. TimeTrial, Road - Women's C1-3 Road Race, Track - Women's C1-3 500m Time Trial, Track - Women's C1-3 3000m Ind. Pursuit

Blind Judo

• Kapil Parmar: Men's -60kg J1
• Kokila: Women's -48kg J2

Para Powerlifting 

• Paramjeet Kumar: Men's up to 49kg
• Ashok: Men's up to 63kg
• Sakina Khatun: Women's up to 45kg
• Kasthuri Rajamani: Women's up to 67kg

Para Rowing

• Anita: PR3 Mix Dbl Sculls-PR3Mix2x
• Naryana Konganapalle: PR3 Mix Dbl Sculls-PR3Mix2x

Para Shooting 

• Amir Ahmad Bhat: P3 - X 25m Pistol SH1
• Avani Lekhara: R2 - W 10m Air Rfl Std SH1, R3 - X 10m Air Rfl Prn SH1, R8 - W 50m Rifle 3 Pos. SH1
• Mona Agarwal: R2 - W 10m Air Rfl Std SH1, R6 - X 50m Rifle Prone SH1, R8 - W 50m Rifle 3 Pos. SH1
• Nihal Singh: P3 - X 25m Pistol SH1, P4 - X 50m Pistol SH1
• Manish Narwal: P1 - M 10m Air Pistol SH1
• Rudransh Khandelwal: P1 - M 10m Air Pistol SH1, P4 - X 50m Pistol SH1
• Sidhartha Babu: R3 - X 10m Air Rfl Prn SH1, R6 - X 50m Rifle Prone SH1
• Sriharsha Devaraddi Ramakrishna: R4 - X 10m Air Rfl Std SH2, R5 - X 10m Air Rfl Prn SH2
• Swaroop Mahavir Unhalkar: R1 - M l0m Air Rifle St SH1
• Rubina Francis: P2 - W 10m Air Pistol SH1

Para Swimming 

• Suyash Narayan Jadhav: Men's 50m Butterfly - S7

Para Table Tennis

• Sonlben Patel: Women's Singles - WS3, Women's Doubles - WD10
• Bhavinaben Patel: Women's Singles - WS4, Women's Doubles - WD10

Para-Taekwondo

• Aruna: Women K44 -47kg

Tokyo Paralympics Gold Medalist Pramod Bhagat received the prestigious Padma Shri on 28 March 2022. President Ram Nath Kovind conferred the country's fourth-highest civilian award to him at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He feels that the government's appreciation will encourage the youth and young athletes.

Read also: What are the Top 5 Most Popular Olympic Sports? 

In an interview post the ward ceremony, Pramod Bhagat shared, "I'm extremely happy to be honored with the biggest civilian award, Padma Shri. India had won 19 medals including 5 gold medals in the Paralympics. The government has appreciated our achievements, this will motivate the young athletes in India."

The ace shuttler is now the first para-badminton athlete to receive the prestigious Padma Shri Award. He also received Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award in October 2021.