Paris Paralympics: How Indian para-athletes won a record medal haul

As a youngster, running was Deepthi Jeevanji’s comfort zone. The track was where she could be herself, away from the judging, taunting people around her. On 3 September, the woman from Telangana bagged bronze in the women’s 400m T20 class at the Paris Paralympics to become the first intellectually impaired Indian to bag a medal at the event. Although she admitted that her body was fatigued by travel, the 20-year-old clocked 55.82 seconds.

It was another achievement for Jeevanji, the world champion in her category. “During a normal run too, Deepthi’s running style, take-off and finishing was almost perfect,” her PE teacher Biyani Venkateshwarlu, who first spotted her talent, was quoted as saying by The Indian Express. “The only problem we faced was that she could not concentrate on running in her lane.”

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Her coaches, Venkateshwarlu and N. Ramesh of Sports Authority of India, have helped her overcome the cognitive challenges. Her parents, who made a meagre living and were once urged to give her up to an orphanage, stuck by her and built her up to take on the world.

Jeevanji’s triumph is yet another milestone in India’s rapid rise in the Para Games. Since the Rio Paralympics in 2016, the country has raised the bar with every edition. While a four-medal haul in Rio was India’s best at the time, they captured19 medals at the deferred 2020 Tokyo Paralympics and have gone past the 20-medal mark in Paris, winning more golds than the total tally in Rio.

Also building on their success were shooter Avani Lekhara and javelin star Sumit Antil. Having won India’s first gold at Tokyo three years ago, Lekhara, 22, did a repeat in Paris, winning the women’s 10m air rifle shooting standing SH1 title. In the final, she shot a Games record score of 249.7, becoming the first Indian to defend a Paralympic title.

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The wheelchair-bound shooter, who hails from Jaipur, underwent surgery in March but was still at her best in Paris. Antil, with a prosthetic leg, shrugged off a back niggle to defend this title in the F64 category (athletes with lower limb impairments). He was quick off the blocks. On his first throw of 69.11m, he broke the record of 68.55m which he had set in Tokyo. On the second, he hurled the spear to an unbeatable 70.59m.

Nitesh Kumar, Dharambir and Harvinder Singh added to the gold rush. Kumar made sure the men’s singles SL3 badminton title stayed in India as he defeated Britain’s Daniel Bethell, to whom he had earlier lost 10 straight times. Singh secured India’s first gold in archery at the Paralympics as he won the men’s individual recurve event while Dharambir finished first in men’s club throw F51 class.

Mariyappan Thangavelu became the first Indian to score a hat-trick of medals as he captured bronze in the men’s high jump T63 class. He had won gold in Rio and silver in Tokyo. Fellow Indian Sharad Kumar won a silver.

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It was not the only event where more than one Indian finished in the top 3. Lekhara shared the podium with Mona Agarwal (bronze) in 10m air rifle, Ajeet Singh and Sundar Singh Gurjar won the silver and bronze, respectively, in the men’s javelin throw F46, and Thulasimathi Murugesan and Manisha Ramadass won silver and bronze, respectively, in women’s singles SU5 badminton. Dharambir and Pranav Soorma gave India a 1-2 finish in men’s club throw. India’s star archer Sheetal Devi, 17, lost in the pre-quarterfinals in the women’s individual compound event but joined Rakesh Kumar to clinch bronze in the mixed team event.

“We are comfortable on the big stage,” Sachin Khilari said of India’s Paris Paralympics campaign after winning silver in men’s shot put F46 on Wednesday. “Indians are warriors.”

Deepti Patwardhan is a sportswriter based in Mumbai.

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