India at the 2024 Summer Paralympics

The Paralympic Committee of India was formed in 1994, five years after the International Paralympic Committee was established in 1989.^[1][2] The nation made its Paralympics debut in 1968 and have appeared in every edition of the Summer Paralympic Games since 1984. This edition of the Games marked the nation's 13th appearance at the Summer Paralympics.^[3]

India had won 31 medals across Paralympic Games with the most successful Paralympic campaign being the 2020 Tokyo edition with 19 medals including five gold, eight silver and six bronze medals.^[4][5]

The Indian contingent for the 2024 Games consisted of 84 people across 12 sports.^[6] Athletes Bhagyashree Jadhav and Sumit Antil were the flag bearers for the opening ceremony.^[7] Preethi Pal and Harvinder Singh served as the flag bearers of the closing ceremony.^[8]

India won 29 medals including seven gold, nine silver, and thirteen bronze medals.^[9] The Games marked India's highest ever medal tally at the Paralympics.^[4] The medal haul included four instances of multiple podium finish in the same event.^[9]

Avani Lekhara won India's first gold medal in the women's 10 m air rifle event. This was Lekhara's second consecutive gold medal in the event and she became first Indian woman athlete to win multiple medals at the Paralympics.^[10] Kumar Nitesh won the country's second gold medal in the Games at the badminton events. He won the men's singles SL3 event, in which compatriot Pramod Bhagat had won the gold medal in the previous Games.^[11] Sumit Antil became the first Indian male athlete to win back-to-back gold medals in the same event after his victory in the men's javelin throw F64 event. He also set two Paralympic records in the process.^[12] Harvinder Singh won India's first Paralympic gold medal in archery. This was his second medal after the bronze he won at the previous Games.^[13] Dharambir Nain won India's fifth gold medal in the men's club throw F51 event.^[14] Praveen Kumar won India's third athletics gold medal in the men's high jump T64 event.^[15] Navdeep Singh, who had earlier finished second in the men's javelin throw F41 event, was awarded the gold medal after Iran's Sadegh Sayah was disqualified. Navdeep's throw of 47.32 meters also set a new Paralympic record.^[16]

Manish Narwal won India's first silver medal of the Games in the men's 10 m air pistol event, which was his second medal after his gold medal at the previous Games.^[17] Nishad Kumar and Yogesh Kathuniya won silver medals in the men's high jump T47 and the men's discus throw F56 events respectively, in a repeat of their performance from Tokyo 2020.^[18][19] Thulasimathi Murugesan won the only Indian silver medal at the women's badminton event.^[20] Suhas Yathiraj won a silver medal for the second consecutive Games in the men's singles SL4 para-badminton event.^[21] Ajeet Singh Yadav won the silver medal in the men's javelin throw F46 event.^[22] Sharad Kumar won his second Paralympic medal, a silver in the men's high jump T63 event.^[23] Sachin Khilari won India's fifth athletics silver medal, finishing second in the men's shot put F46 event.^[24]

Mona Agarwal won India's first bronze medal at the Games in the women's 10 m air rifle event in which Lekhara won the gold medal.^[9] Preethi Pal won India's first ever track medal in athletics by winning a bronze medal in the women's 100 m T35 event. Pal became the only Indian multi-medalist in the Games after she won her second bronze in the women's 200 m T35 event.^[25] Rubina Francis won India's fourth shooting medal with a bronze in the women's 10 m air pistol event.^[26] Sheetal Devi became the youngest Indian Paralympic medalist after she won a bronze medal in the compound archery event along with Rakesh Kumar.^[27] Manisha Ramadass and Nithya Sivan won bronze medals in women's para-badminton events to take the Indian medal tally in the badminton events to five.^[28]

Deepthi Jeevanji became the youngest Indian track medalist at the Paralympic Games after she won the bronze medal in the women's 400 m T20 race.^[29] Sundar Singh Gurjar won a bronze medal in the men's javelin throw F46 event, which was his second medal after he finished third in the same event in the previous Games.^[22] Mariyappan Thangavelu won a medal for the third successive Paralympic Games with a bronze in the men's high jump event.^[23] Kapil Parmar won a bronze medal in Judo, which was India's first Paralympic medal in the sport.^[30] Hokato Hotozhe Sema won a bronze medal in the men's shot put F57 event and Simran Sharma won India's final bronze medal in the women's 200 metres T12 event.^[31][32]

The Indian contingent consisted of 84 athletes who took part in 74 medal events across 12 sports.^[6]

India entered six athletes in compound and recurve events by their result at the 2023 World Para Archery Championships held in Plzeň, Czechia.^[33]

Compound

The ranking round was held on 29 August 2024. In the men's ranking round, Rakesh Kumar and Shyam Sundar Swami finished fifth and fifteenth respectively. Sheetal Devi scored 703 points in the women's ranking round to finish second and Sarita Adhana was ranked ninth.^[34] In the mixed team rankings, Kumar and Devi scored 1399 points to break the previous world record held by Kumar and Adhana.^[35]

In the men's individual round, Shyam Sundar Swamy had an early exit after losing to Thailand's Comsan Singpirom in the round of 32. Rakesh Kumar won his round of 32 match easily, but his next two matches were decided on the basis of shoot-offs, with Kumar emerging victorious both times and securing his place in the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, Kumar faced Ai Xinliang of China, where Kumar suffered his first defeat by 143–145. He lost to China's He Zihao by a narrow margin of just one point in the bronze medal match and finished fourth in the category.^[36]

Sheetal Devi got a bye in the round of 32. In the round of 16, she lost to 2020 Games silver medalist Mariana Zúñiga by just one point. Sarita Adhana won her first two matches by easy margins but lost the quarterfinal match against eventual gold medalist Öznur Cüre and finished sixth in the women's individual category.^[37][38]

Athlete	Event	Ranking Round		Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals / BM
		Score	Seed	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Rakesh Kumar	Men's individual	696	5	Drame (SEN) W 136–131	Swagumilang (INA) W 144–144 SO	Tremblay (CAN) W 144–144 SO	Xinliang (CHN) L 143–145	Zihao (CHN) L 146–147	4
Shyam Sundar Swami		688	15	Singpirom (THA) L 138–138 SO	Did not advance				17
Sheetal Devi	Women's individual	703	2	Bye	Zúñiga (CHI) L 137–138	Did not advance			9
Sarita Adhana		682	9	Jannaton (MAS) W 138–124	Sarti (ITA) W 141–135	Cüre (TUR) L 140–145	Did not advance		6
Sheetal Devi Rakesh Kumar	Mixed team	1399 WR	1	Bye		Ferelly / Swagumilang (INA) W 154–143	Hemmati / Nori (IRI) L 152–152 SO	Bonacina / Sarti (ITA) W 156–155

Recurve

Athlete	Event	Ranking Round		Round of 32	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Finals
		Score	Seed	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Harvinder Singh	Men's individual	637	9	Lung-hui (TPE) W 7–3	Setiawan (INA) W 6–2	Ramírez (COL) W 6–2	Arab Ameri (IRI) W 7–3	Ciszek (POL) W 6–0
Pooja Jatyan	Women's individual	585	7	Bye	Şengül (TUR) W 6–0	Chunyan (CHN) L 4–6	Did not advance
Harvinder Singh Pooja Jatyan	Mixed team	1222	5	—N/a	Kenton-Smith / Jennings (AUS) W 5–4	Ciszek / Olszewska (POL) W 6–0	Travisani / Mijno (ITA) L 2–6	Fabčič / Lavrinc (SLO) L 4–5	4

Indian athletes achieved quota places based on their results at the 2023 and 2024 World Para Athletics Championships, or through allocation quotas, provided they have met the minimum entry standard (MES) for the respective events. The athletics contingent consisted of 38 members including 10 women.^[39][40]

Track events

Athlete	Event	Heat		Semifinal		Final
		Result	Rank	Result	Rank	Result	Rank
Preethi Pal	Women's 100 m T35	—N/a				14.21 PB
	Women's 200 m T35					30.01 PB
Simran Sharma	Women's 100 m T12	12.17	1 Q SB	12.33	2 q	12.31	4
	Women's 200 m T12	25.41	1 Q	25.03	1 Q	24.75 PB
Deepthi Jeevanji	Women's 400 m T20	55.45	1 Q	—N/a		55.82
Rakshitha Raju	Women's 1500 m T11	5:29.92	4			Did not advance
Dilip Gavit	Men's 400 m T47	49.54	3 Q SB			49.99	8

Men's field events

Athlete	Event	Result	Rank
Dharambir Nain	Club throw F51	34.92 AR
Pranav Soorma		34.59
Amit Kumar Saroha		23.96	10
Yogesh Kathuniya	Discus throw F56	42.22 SB
Sharad Kumar	High jump T63	1.88
Mariyappan Thangavelu		1.85
Shailesh Kumar		1.85	4
Nishad Kumar	High jump T47	2.04 SB
Rampal Chahar		1.95 PB	7
Praveen Kumar	High jump T64	2.08 PB AR
Navdeep Singh	Javelin throw F41	47.32 PR PB
Ajeet Singh Yadav	Javelin throw F46	65.62
Rinku Hooda		61.58	5
Sundar Singh Gurjar		64.96
Dipesh Kumar	Javelin throw F54	26.11	7
Praveen Kumar	Javelin throw F57	42.12	8
Sandip Sargar	Javelin throw F64	58.03	7
Sandeep Chaudhary		62.80	4
Sumit Antil		70.59 PR
Arvind Malik	Shot put F35	13.01 SB	6
Manu Manu	Shot put F37	13.86	6
Ravi Rongali	Shot put F40	10.63 PB	5
Sachin Khilari	Shot put F46	16.32 AR
Mohd Yasser		14.21	8
Rohit Kumar		14.10	9
Hokato Hotozhe Sema	Shot put F57	14.65 PB
Soman Rana		14.07	5

Women's field events

India qualified ten para badminton players through the Badminton World Federation para-badminton Race to Paris Paralympic rankings.^[41]

Men

Athlete	Event	Group Stage				Quarterfinal	Semifinal	Final / BM
		Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Manoj Sarkar	Singles SL3	Nitesh (IND) L (13–21, 21–18, 18–21)	Bunsun (THA) L (19-21, 8-21)	Yang (CHN) W (21–15, 21–11)	3	—N/a	Did not advance
Kumar Nitesh		Sarkar (IND) W (21–13, 18–21, 21–18)	Yang (CHN) W (21–5, 21–11)	Bunsun (THA) W (21–13, 21–14)	1 Q		Fujihara (JPN) W (21–16, 21–12)	Bethell (GBR) W (21–14, 18–21, 23–21)
Suhas Yathiraj	Singles SL4	Ramdani (INA) W (21–7, 21–5)	Shin (KOR) W (26–24, 21–14)	—N/a	1 Q	—N/a	Kadam (IND) W (21–17, 21–12)	Mazur (FRA) L (9–21, 13–21)
Sukant Kadam		Burhanuddin (MAS) W (17–21, 21–15, 22–20)	Teamarrom (THA) W (21–12, 21–12)		1 Q		Yathiraj (IND) L (17–21, 12–21)	Setiawan (INA) L (17–21, 18–21)	4
Tarun Dhillon		Oliveira (BRA) W (21–17, 21–19)	Mazur (FRA) L (7–21, 16–21)		2		Did not advance
Krishna Nagar	Singles SH6	Krajewski (USA) L (16–21, 18–21)	Meechai (THA) L (20–22, 3–11r)	—N/a	3	Did not advance
Sivarajan Solaimalai		Subhan (INA) L (15–21, 17–21)	Kai (HKG) L (13–21, 21–18, 15–21)	Coombs (GBR) L (12–21, 10–21)	4

Women

Athlete	Event	Group Stage				Quarterfinal	Semifinal	Final / BM
		Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Manasi Joshi	Singles SL3	Syakuroh (INA) L (21–16, 13–21, 18–21)	Kozyna (UKR) L (21–10, 15–21, 21–23)	—N/a	3	Did not advance
Mandeep Kaur		Bolaji (NGR) L (8–21, 14–21)	Vinot (AUS) W (21–23, 21–10, 21–17)	2 Q	Bolaji (NGR) L (8–21, 9–21)	Did not advance
Palak Kohli	Singles SL4	Surreau (FRA) W (21–12, 21–14)	Oktila (INA) L (21–18, 5–21, 13–21)	—N/a	2 Q				Sadiyah (INA) L (19–21, 15–21)
Thulasimathi Murugesan	Singles SU5	de Marco (ITA) W (21–9, 21–11)	Monteiro (POR) W (21–12, 21–8)	—N/a	1 Q	Bye	Ramadass (IND) W (23–21, 21–17)	Yang (CHN) L (17–21, 10–21)
Manisha Ramadass		Lefort (FRA) W (8–21, 21–6, 21–19)	Yang (CHN) L (15–21, 7–21)	2 Q	Toyoda (JPN) W (21–13, 21–16)	Murugesan (IND) L (21–23, 17–21)	Rosengren (DEN) W (21–12, 21–8)
Nithya Sivan	Singles SH6	Simon (USA) W (21–7, 21–8)	Cai (TPE) W (21–12, 21–19)	Lin (CHN) L (20–22, 18–21)	2 Q	Szmigiel (POL) W (21–4, 21–7)	Lin (CHN) L (13–21, 19–21)	Marlina (INA) W (21–14, 21–6)

Mixed

Athlete	Event	Group Stage				Semifinal	Final / BM
		Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank	Opposition Score	Opposition Score	Rank
Kumar Nitesh Thulasimathi Murugesan	Doubles SL3–SU5	Yathiraj / Kohli (IND) W (21–14, 21–17)	Ramdani / Oktila (INA) L (15–21, 8–21)	Mazur / Noël (FRA) L (22–24, 19–21)	3	Did not advance
Suhas Yathiraj Palak Kohli		Nitesh / Murugesan (IND) L (14–21, 17–21)	Mazur / Noël (FRA) L (15–21, 9–21)	Ramdani / Oktila (INA) L (11–21, 17–21)	4
Sivarajan Solaimalai Nithya Sivan	Doubles SH6	Krajewski / Simon (USA) L (21–23, 11–21)	Meechai / Saeyang (THA) W (21–7, 21–17)	—N/a	1 Q	Krajewski / Simon (USA) L (21–17, 14–21, 13–21)	Subhan / Marlina (INA) L (17–21, 12–21)	4

Legend: W = Win; L = Loss; Q = Qualified for the next phase

India qualified two para-cyclists (one in each gender) based on the Union Cycliste Internationale rankings on 31 December 2022.^[42][6]

Road

Track

India qualified for Judo for the first time after Kapil Parmar and Kokila Kaushiklate secured quota places based on the International Blind Sports Federation Judo Rankings.^[6]

Athlete	Event	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Repechage 1	Repechage 2	Final / BM
		Opposition result	Opposition result	Opposition result	Opposition result	Opposition result	Opposition result	Rank
Kapil Parmar	Men's J1 -60 kg	Bye	Blanco (VEN) W 10–0	Banitaba (IRI) L 0–10	—N/a	de Oliveira (BRA) W 10–0
Kokila Kaushiklate	Women's J2 -48 kg	—N/a	Nauatbek (KAZ) L 0–10	Did not advance	Ivanytska (UKR) L 0–10	—N/a	Did not advance

India earned three quota places through the 2023 and 2024 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships conducted by the International Canoe Federation.^[6]

FB = Final B (non-medal) FA = Final A (medal)

Two men (Paramjeet Kumar and Ashok Malik) and two women (Sakina Khatun and Kasthuri Rajamani) secured their Paralympic berths through the Paralympic Qualification rankings after having completed the mandatory requirements of competing in certain tournaments.^[43][44]

India qualified one boat in mixed double sculls through the 2024 Asian / Oceania Continental Qualification Regatta held in Chungju, South Korea.^[45][6]

Legend: R = Repechage; FB = Final B (non-medal)

India entered nine para shooters after achieving quota places through various qualifying events after they attained the minimum qualifying score (MQS) for the respective events by 15 July 2024.^[46][47][48] Rubina Francis and Swaroop Unhalkar received a bi-partite invitation from the International Paralympic Committee for the Games.^[6]

Men

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
		Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Rudransh Khandelwal	P1 10 m air pistol SH1	561	9	Did not advance
Manish Narwal		566	5 Q	234.9
Swaroop Unhalkar	R1 10 m air rifle standing SH1	613.4	14	Did not advance

Women

Athlete	Event	Qualification		Final
		Points	Rank	Points	Rank
Avani Lekhara	R2 10 m air rifle SH1	625.8	2 Q	249.7 PR
Mona Agarwal		623.1	5 Q	228.7
Avani Lekhara	R8 50 m rifle 3 positions SH1	1159	7 Q	420.6	5
Mona Agarwal		1147	13	Did not advance
Rubina Francis	P2 10 m air pistol SH1	556	6 Q	211.1

Mixed

Legend: Q = Qualified for the next phase; PR = Paralympic Record

India qualified one swimmer to compete at the games after Suyash Jadhav achieved the Minimum Qualification Standard (MQS) in the butterfly event.^[49]

Men

India entered two athletes for the Paralympic Games. Sonalben Patel and Bhavina Patel qualified through the International Table Tennis Federation World Rankings.^[6][50]

Athlete	Event	Round of 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final / BM
		Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Opposition Result	Rank
Sonalben Patel	Women's individual C3	Mužinić (CRO) L 1–3	Did not advance
Bhavina Patel	Women's individual C4	Verdín (MEX) W 3–0	Zhou (CHN) L 1–3	Did not advance
Sonalben Patel Bhavina Patel	Women's doubles D10	—N/a	Jung / Moon (KOR) L 1–3

Legend: W = Won; L = Lost