Paris Paralympics 2024: Bhagyashree Jadhav and Sumit Antil have been made as the country's flagbearers, for the upcoming Paris Paralympics 2024 and the country's athletes consist of 84 athletes. It's a special moment for India as this time they would be sending their largest-ever contingent of 84 athletes, as compared to 54, who participated in the Tokyo Paralympics.
Who is Bhagyashree Jadhav?
Coming from Maharashtra, Bhagyashree Jadhav has performed consistently in international tournaments. She had clinched the silver medal in the shot put F34 category at the Asian Para Games in 2022 and then finished at the seventh position in the Tokyo Paralympics. She started playing this sport in 2017 and then soon after made her name by winning medals at numerous international tournaments, like the Feja World Cup and World Para Athletics game.
Who is Sumit Antil?
Para-athlete javelin thrower Sumit Antil is the defending world record champion in the F64 category. He won the gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics by throwing at a distance of 68.55m. He then continued his sublime form and won another gold medal at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships had also created a world record by throwing at a distance of 73.29m at the 2023 Asian Para Games.
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This time the Indian contingent would be participating in three new sports- para-cycling, para-rowing, and blind judo and that will take the total number of sports to 12. The PCI revealed this information. It should be noted here that the number of female participants has increased from 14 in Tokyo to 32 in Paris. The Indian para-athletes won 19 medals in the Tokyo Olympics and will aim to improve their performance in Paris, thus maintaining their dominance on the global Paralympic stage.
India's Paralympics contingent
Archery
Harvinder Singh - Men's Individual Recurve Open, Mixed Team Recurve Open (Category - ST)
Rakesh Kumar - Men's Individual Compound Open, Mixed Team Compound Open (Category - W2)
Shyam Sundar Swami - Men's Individual Compound Open, Mixed Team Compound Open (Category - ST)
Pooja - Women's Individual Recurve Open, Mixed Team Recurve Open (Category - ST)
Sarita - Women's Individual Compound Open, Mixed Team Compound Open (Category - W2)
Sheetal Devi - Women's Individual Compound Open, Mixed Team Compound Open (Category - ST)
Athletics
Deepthi Jeevanji - Women's 400m -T20
Sumit Antil - Men's Javelin Throw - F64
Sandeep - Men's Javelin Throw - F64
Ajeet Singh - Men's Javelin Throw - F46
Sundar Singh Gurjar - Men's Javelin Throw - F46
Rinku - Men's Javelin Throw - F46
Navdeep - Men's Javelin Throw - F41
Yogesh Kathuniya - Men's Discus Throw - F56
Dharambir - Men's Club Throw - F51
Pranav Soorma - Men's Club Throw - F51
Amit Kumar - Men's Club Throw - F51
Nishad Kumar - Men's High Jump - T47
Ram Pal - Men's High Jump - T47
Mariyappan Thangavelu - Men's High Jump - T63
Shailesh Kumar - Men's High Jump - T63
Sharad Kumar - Men's High Jump - T63
Sachin Sarjerao Khilari - Men's Shot Put - F46
Mohd. Yasser - Men's Shot Put - F46
Rohit Kumar - Men's Shot Put - F46
Preethi Pal - Women's 100m - T35, Women's 200m - T35
Bhagyashri Madhavrao Jadhav - Women's Shot Put - F34
Manu - Men's Shot Put - F37
Parveen Kumar - Men's Javelin Throw - F57
Ravi Rongali - Men's Shot Put - F40
Sandip Sanjay Gurjar- Men's Javelin Throw-F64
Arvind - Men's Shot Put - F35
Dipesh Kumar - Men's Javelin Throw - F54
Praveen Kumar - Men's High Jump - T64
Dilip Mahadu Gavit - Men's 400m - T47
Soman Rana - Men's Shot Put - F57
Hokato Hotozhe Sema- Men's Shot Put - F57
Sakshi Kasana- Women's Discus Throw- F55
Karamjyoti- Women's Discus Throw- F55
Rakshitha Raju- Women's 1500 metres T11
Amisha Rawat: Women's Shot Put - F46
Bhavanaben Ajabaji Chaudhary- Women's javelin Throw - F46
Simran- Women's 100m T12, Women's 200m T12
Kanchan Lakhani - Women's Discus Throw - F53
Badminton
Manoj Sarkar- Men's Singles SL3
Nitesh Kumar- Men's Singles SL3, Mixed Doubles SL3-SU5
Krishna Nagar- Men's Singles SH6
Sivarajan Solaimalai- Men's Singles SH6, Mixed Doubles SH6
Suhas Yathiraj- Men's Singles SL4, Mixed Doubles SL3-SU5
Sukant Kadam- Men's Singles S4
Tarun- Men's Singles S4
Manasi Joshi- Women's Singles SL3
Mandeep Kaur- Women's Singles SL3
Palak Kohli- Women's Singles SL4, Mixed Doubles SL3-SU5
Manisha Ramadass- Women's Singles SU5
Thulasimathi Murugesan- Women's Singles SU5, Mixed Doubles SL3-SU5
Nithya Sre Sivan- Women's Singles SH6, Mixed Doubles SH6
Canoe
Prachi Yadav- Women's Va'a Single 200m VL2
Yash Kumar- Men's Kayak Single 200m -KL1
Pooja Ojha- Women's Kayak Single 200m -KL1
Cycling
Arshad Shaik- Road - Men's C2 Ind. Time Trial, Road - Men's C1-3 Road Race, Track - Men's C1-3 1000m Time Trial, Track - Men's C2 3000m Ind. Pursuit
Jyoti Gaderiya- Road - Women's C1-3 Ind. Time Trial, Road - Women's C1-3 Road Race, Track - Women's C1-3 500m Time Trial, Track - Women's C1-3 3000m Ind. Pursuit
Blind Judo (2)
Kapil Parmar: Men's -60kg J1
Kokila: Women's -48kg J2
Powerlifting
Paramjeet Kumar- Men's up to 49kg
Ashok- Men's up to 63kg
Sakina Khatun- Women's up to 45kg
Kasthuri Rajamani- Women's up to 67kg
Rowing
Anita- PR3 Mix Dbl Sculls-PR3Mix2x
Naryana Konganapalle- PR3 Mix Dbl Sculls-PR3Mix2x
Shooting
Amir Ahmad Bhat- P3 - Mixed 25m Pistol SH1
Avani Lekhara: R2 - Women's 10m Air Rfl Std SH1, R3 - Mixed 10m Air Rfl Prn SH1, R8 - Women's 50m Rifle 3 Pos. SH1
Mona Agarwal: R2 - Women's 10m Air Rfl Std SH1, R6 - Mixed 50m Rifle Prone SH1, R8 - Women's 50m Rifle 3 Pos. SH1
Nihal Singh: P3 - Mixed 25m Pistol SH1, P4 - Mixed 50m Pistol SH1
Manish Narwal: P1 - Men's 10m Air Pistol SH1
Rudransh Khandelwal: P1 - Men's 10m Air Pistol SH1, P4 - Mixed 50m Pistol SH1
Sidhartha Babu: R3 - Mixed 10m Air Rfl Prn SH1, R6 - Mixed 50m Rifle Prone SH1
Sriharsha Devaraddi Ramakrishna- R4 - Mixed 10m Air Rfl Std SH2, R5 - Mixed 10m Air Rfl Prn SH2
Swaroop Mahavir Unhalkar- R1 - Men's l0m Air Rifle St SH1
Rubina Francis: P2 - Women's 10m Air Pistol SH1
Swimming
Suyash Narayan Jadhav- Men's 50m Butterfly - S7
Table Tennis
Sonalben Patel- Women's Singles- WS3, Women's Doubles- WD10
Bhavinaben Patel- Women's Singles- WS4, Women's Doubles- WD10
Taekwondo
Aruna- Women's K44- 47kg