Indian Para-Athletes Shine at Paris Paralympics, Bagging 21 Medals
Indian para-athlete Amisha narrowly missed out on a medal in the F46 Shot Put final at the ongoing Paris Paralympics, finishing 14th with a personal best of 9.25 m. The podium was dominated by Noelle Malkamaki of the USA, who set a new world record with a throw of 14.06 m, Mariia Shpatkivska of Ukraine with an area record of 12.35 m, and Holly Robinson of New Zealand with a throw of 11.88 m.
In the men’s up to 49 kg para-lifting category, India’s Parmjeet Kumar also failed to secure a medal, finishing eighth with a best lift of 150 kg. The gold medal went to Jordan’s Qarada Omar Sami Hamadeh (181 kg), followed by Turkey’s Abdullah Kayapinar (180 kg) and Vietnam’s Le Van Cong (171 kg).
Despite these setbacks, the Indian contingent has already amassed 21 medals (three gold, eight silver, and ten bronze) and is poised to extend its record medal haul in a single edition of the Paralympics. In the Tokyo edition, India recorded its best-ever medal tally of 19 (five gold, eight silver, and six bronze).
On Wednesday, para-athlete Sachin Khilari clinched the silver medal in the men’s shot put F46 final with a throw of 16.32 m, setting an area record. However, he narrowly missed the gold by 0.6 m.
Over the past few days, the Indian contingent has won 13 medals, including golds for Avani Lekhara in the women’s 10m air rifle and Sumit Antil in the men’s javelin throw F64, silver medals for Manish Narwal in the men’s 10m air pistol SH1 and Nishad Kumar in the men’s high jump T47, and bronze medals for Mona Agarwal in the women’s 10m air rifle, Rubina Francis in the women’s 10m air pistol SH-1, Preeti Pal in the women’s 100m T35, Yogesh Kathuniya in the men’s discus throw F56, Rakesh Kumar and Sheetal Devi in the mixed team compound archery, Nithya Sre Sivan in the women’s SH6 para-badminton, Nitesh in the men’s singles SL3 para-badminton, Thulasimathi Murugesan in the women’s singles SU5 para-badminton, and Manisha in the women’s singles SU5 para-badminton.
