The Paris Paralympic Games began on August 28. The event will run till September 8. In these games, 84 players from India are participating in 12 games. 95 officers have also gone with them. India won a record 19 medals including 5 golds at the 2021 Tokyo Paralympics and finished 24th in the rankings. After three years, India aims to take the gold medal tally into double digits and win more than 25 medals in total. We will know further in this story who are the medal contenders for India this time… 1. Sumit Antill (Men's Javelin Throw-F64) India will once again be hoping for a gold from Tokyo Paralympics gold medalist javelin thrower Sumit. Sumit had a record breaking throw of 68.55 meters in Tokyo. Since Tokyo, Sumit has won 2 golds at the World Championships in Paris 2023 and Kobe 2024 and a gold at the Asian Games. He broke the world record by throwing 73.29 meters in the fourth Para Games to be held in 2023 Hangzhou. He was made India's flag bearer at the Paris Paralympics opening ceremony. 2. Mariyappan Thangavelu (Men's High Jump- T63) In the men's high jump, two-time Paralympic medalist Mariyappan Thangavelu won the gold medal at Rio 2016 with a jump of 1.89m and also won the silver medal at Tokyo 2020 with a jump of 1.86m. He also won gold at the World Championships last year. This time India can get more than one medal in this event. Along with Mariyappan Thangavelu, Sharad Kumar and Shailesh Kumar also have high medal hopes. He will face the challenge of America's Sam Gravy and Ezra French. 3. Avni Lakhera (Shooting) Having won 2 medals in a single sports event before Manu Bhakar, Avni Lakhera has a chance to repeat history. Avni won 2 medals including gold in Tokyo Paralympic Games. She is the first female athlete to do so at the Paralympic Games. Avni will participate in 3 shooting events. 4. Sheetal Devi (Archery) 17-year-old Sheetal Devi has made a name for herself at a young age. There are very few archers in the world who practice archery without hands. Sheetal is one of three archers at the Paralympics who will be shooting archery with the help of legs. Sheetal won a silver medal in the World Championship. This time he will compete in mixed and singles events. 5. Krishna Nagar (Badminton Men's Singles SH6) After the ban on Pramod Bhagat, there are very few shuttlers in the Indian team who are expected to medal. One of them is Krishna Nagar, who will be defending the gold he won in Tokyo in the SH-6 category of badminton. 6. Manisha Ramdas (Badminton Women's Singles SU5) Women's badminton star Manisha, who won gold at the 2022 World Championships at just 19 and silver earlier this year, is expected to win a Paralympic medal. India's Thulaimathi Murugesan is the top seeded player in this category. 7. Bhavina Patel (Table Tennis, Women's Singles WS4) Bringing home a medal in table tennis in Tokyo was the biggest thing for India. In table tennis, Bhavina Patel of Ahmedabad won the silver medal at the Tokyo Games by defeating 12 players ranked higher than her rank. Hope they bring home a medal once again.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
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