Rewriting history in Paris

Differently-abled but exceptionally resolute, India’s para-athletes would look back at their Paralympics campaign with pride as most of the established names lived up to expectations and many talented greenhorns made the big stage their own in a record-smashing medal haul of 29.

Seven of these 29 medals are gold, which is another first for the country that started to make its presence felt only in the 2016 edition, where it won four medals. The upswing in performance after that has been meteoric with Tokyo yielding 19, a number that was surpassed this time.

Not to forget, a lot of medal-winning performances here were record efforts and personal bests, demonstrating that the athletes have made significant progress as far as their self-belief is concerned.

The 29 medals in five sports, including 17 in the track and field events, have ensured that the country will end in the top-20 of the mega-event that was once again dominated by China with over 200 medals.

India is still far away from becoming a force at the Olympics level but the nation has certainly emerged as a force to be reckoned with in the competition for the differently-abled. The contingent of 84 ensured plenty of firsts for India in Paralympics history including medals in track events with sprinter Preethi Pal winning bronze medals in the women’s 100m T35 and 200m T35 events.

Another first ever medal came through Kapil Parmar in judo. The 24-year-old secured a bronze in the men’s 60kg J1 class.

The likes of Harvinder Singh and Dharambir pushed India considerably higher up the medals tally by securing path-breaking gold medals in archery and club throw, respectively.

Archer Sheetal Devi, who was born without arms, was already a beacon of hope to millions but with her mixed team bronze, the 17-year-old gave her community another reason to never give up.

No wonder she became a crowd favourite in Paris as she left everyone in awe using her legs instead of arms to hit the bulls’ eye.

Athletes such as javelin thrower Sumit Antil and shooter Avani Lekhara had high expectations to meet, having won gold in Tokyo. Sumit broke his own Paralympics record for a second successive javelin gold, while wheelchair-bound rifle shooter Lekhara dominated the field in the air rifle SH1 final. A gold also came on the badminton court through Nitesh Kumar.