PM Modi Meets Indian Paralympic Heroes After Record-Breaking Paris Games

New Delhi, September 12: Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the Indian contingent of the Paris Paralympics at his residence in New Delhi. The meeting was also attended by Union Sports Minister Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports Raksha Nikhil Khadse, and Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) president Devendra Jhajharia.

PM Modi interacted with the Paralympians who represented India in the recently concluded para multi-sport event. During the meet, Paralympic gold medallist Avani Lekhara gifted PM Modi a signed Indian jersey.

The Indian team concluded its Paralympics campaign in Paris with a record haul of 29 medals, including seven golds, nine silvers, and 13 bronzes. This is the highest number of medals India has ever won at the Paralympics, surpassing the previous record of 19 medals at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. India finished 18th in the overall standings.

Several records were broken during the games. Para-shooter Avani Lekhara became the first Indian woman to win two Paralympic gold medals, defending her women’s 10m air rifle standing SH1 shooting title with a world record score of 249.7 points. India also achieved a one-two finish in para-athletics for the first time, with Dharambir and Parnav Soorma winning gold and silver, respectively, in the men’s club throw F51 event. Dharambir set an Asian record with a throw of 34.92 meters.

In the T64 high jump event, Praveen Kumar won gold with an Asian record-breaking jump of 2.08 meters. Harvinder Singh became India’s first-ever archery champion in both the Olympics and Paralympics, winning gold in the individual recurve para-archery event. Sumit Antil defended his Paralympics title in the F64 javelin throw event, setting a new Paralympic record with a throw of 70.59 meters, breaking his own previous record from Tokyo 2020 three times.