Paris Paralympics 2024: Top five best Indian performers ft. Sumit Antil, Preethi Pal

India won 29 medals at the Paris Paralympics 2024.

The Paris Paralympics 2024 gave Indian fans a number of memories as the nation finished 18th overall in the medal tally, winning 29 medals in total. This eclipsed the tally of 19 medals India had won at the Tokyo Paralympics 2020. Among the 29 were also seven gold medals, two more than what was won at Tokyo.

Every Paralympian is a source of inspiration. They have managed to reach the biggest stage through overcoming numerous adversities in life. On watching these athletes, an entire generation of fans are motivated to look beyond their challenges inspite of disabilities.

Among these demi-gods, a few stand out as they brought out their A-game on the most important days of their life, making the entire nation proud. Here are five Indian para-athletes who performed the best at the Paris Paralympics 2024:

Preethi Pal

Preethi Pal came into the competition knowing that no Indian had previously won a medal in a track event at the Paralympics. She left the Paris Games as the only Indian multiple medalilst.

The athlete from Meerut became India’s first-ever Paralympic medallist in a track event when she clinched bronze in women’s 100m T35 event. She did so by clocking her personal best timing of 14.21s in the final of the event.

The 23-year-old wasn’t done yet, as she again managed to achieve her personal best timing, this time in the women’s 200m T35 race. By virtue of a timing of 30.01s, Preethi clinched her second bronze medal.

Nitesh Kumar

Nitesh Kumar continued India’s legacy in the badminton men’s singles SL3 event, by clinching gold. With Pramod Bhagat, the defending champion in the category suspended, all eyes were on the first seed from Karnal, Haryana.

Nitesh started off with a hard-fought win in three games against the bronze medalist from Tokyo, compatriot Manoj Sarkar. The next two matches turned out to be much easier as he defeated Yang Jianyuan of China and Thailand’s Mongkhon Bunsun to top the group and enter the semifinals. In the semis, he dispatched Japanese Daisuke Fujihara 21-16, 21-12.

In the final, the 29-year-old defeated Brit Daniel Bethell 21-14, 18-21, 23-21 to clinch gold. The Indian put on a stunning display of stroke play combined with a strong defence, to secure his first victory over the Tokyo Paralympics silver medalist in 10 meetings.

Also Read: Paris Paralympics 2024: Sports in which India won its first-ever gold

Praveen Kumar

Tokyo Paralympics silver medallist, Praveen Kumar, managed to change the colour of his medal at Paris, clinching the gold medal in the men’s high jump T64 event. His best jump on the day measured 2.08m, helping him smash the Asian Area Record.

It was sweet redemption for the lad from Govindgarh, MP, after he had finished fourth at the World Championships earlier this year with a jump of 1.94m. However, what stood out was that while the other contenders struggled to register jumps much lower than what Praveen managed, the Indian successfully achieved all his jumps in his very first attempt!

His first unsuccessful attempt came only when the bar was raised to 2.10m, by which time the 23-year-old was already assured of a gold.

Harvinder Singh

Harvinder Singh became the first Indian archer to clinch a Paralympic gold medal. Having already become the first Indian archer to medal at the Paralympics with bronze at Tokyo, the 33-year-old put on a clutch performance to change the colour of his medal in Paris.

After being seeded ninth following the ranking rounds, Harvinder had a shaky start in the Round of 32 against Tseng Lung-Hui of Chinese Taipei but managed to secure a 7-3 victory. He, however, settled down in a 6-2 victory against Indonesia’s Setiawan. This was followed by a win by an identical margin against Colombian Hector Julio Ramirez in the quarterfinals.

With a 7-3 win against Iranian fourth seed Mohammed Reza Arab Ameri in the semi-final, Harvinder was assured of an upgrade on his medal won at Tokyo.

The archer from Kaithal, Haryana had reserved his best performance for the final, securing a 6-0 win against Pole Lukasz Ciszek. Stunningly, all of his nine arrows in the gold medal tie landed in the yellow zone.

Sumit Antil

Sumit Antil shattered the Games record and successfully defended his title from the Tokyo Paralympics at Paris. Having broken his own world record thrice, three years ago at Tokyo, he achieved a whopping distance of 70.59m to win a second consecutive Paralympic gold.

The 26-year-old started off with a distance of 69.11m and achieved his best throw of the night in his second attempt. This was followed by a throw of 66.66m, before registering a foul on the next attempt. Sumit then achieved distances measuring 69.04m and 66.57m in his last two attempts.

Also Read: Sumit Antil’s top five career best throws in men’s para javelin

While he couldn’t break his own world record of 73.29m set at the Hangzhou Para Asian Games, the athlete from Sonipat, Haryana, put on an inspirational performance to join the elite list of double Paralympic gold medallists. To put into perspective what he had achieved that night, three of the Indian’s throws would have clinched him the gold medal, while the remaining two valid throws were enough to win him a silver.

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