File image of Neeraj Chopra© X (Twitter)
Star Indian javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra on Monday congratulated the Indian contingent for their performance at the Paris Paralympics. The Indian contingent concluded its historic Paris Paralympics campaign with a total of 29 medals, including seven gold, nine silver, and 13 bronze medals, the most by the country in the history of the competition. With this landmark campaign, India has surpassed their previously most-successful campaign at Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, which gave them 19 medals, including five golds, eight silvers, and six bronze medals.
Taking to his official X handle, Neeraj said that the whole nation is proud of the Indian contingent that participated at the Paris Paralympics.
"What a performance by #TeamIndia at the 2024 Paralympics. Congratulations to every participant and the entire support staff for giving their best and returning home with 29 medals! India is proud of you," Neeraj wrote on X.
This record-haul also helped India cross the 50-medal mark in the history of the competition. A record of 84 para-athletes represented the tricolour from August 28 to Sunday in 12 disciplines, as compared to nine back in Tokyo 2020. India also participated in new sports at Paris: paracycling, para rowing, and blind judo.
India established several records and unlocked some new "firsts" at the Paralympic Games. Para-shooter Avani Lekhara became the first ever Indian woman to secure two Paralympic gold medals as she managed to defend her women's 10m air rifle standing SH1 shooting title with a world record score of 249.7 points.
India recorded a one-two finish at a para-athletics competition for the first time, with Dharambir and Parnav Soorma clinching gold and silver, respectively, in the men's club throw F51 event. This was among India's first-ever medals in this sport. Dharambir also set an Asian record of 34.92 m.
India also found its first-ever archery champion across both the Olympics and Paralympics, with Harvinder Singh getting the gold in the gold medal clash of the individual recurve para-archery against Poland's Lukasz Ciszek.
Indian javelin throw ace Sumit Antil became the first Indian male to defend their Paralympics title, making it back-to-back gold in F64 event with a stunning Paralympic record-breaking throw of 70.59 m. He broke his own previous record set during the Tokyo 2020 not once, but thrice.
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