Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a telephonic conversation with Paris Paralympic Games medal winners Harvinder Singh, Kapil Parmar, Pranav Soorma, Sachin Sarjerao Khilari and Dharambir and congratulated them on their victory.
PM Modi said that the players winning the medals is the biggest gift to the country. He also appreciated the efforts of the coaches that have gone behind such fantastic performance of the players.
Kapil Parmar became India’s first Paralympic medallist in judo with a bronze in the men’s 60kg (J1) category on Thursday. The 24-year-old defeated Brazil’s Elielton de Oliveira 10-0 in the play-off, dominating his opponent throughout the contest to make a historic podium finish.
Parmar’s medal was among the least expected from the mega-event. However, it was not entirely a surprise given that he won a silver medal at the Para-Asian Games last year besides being a gold medallist from the 2019 Commonwealth Championships.
Harvinder Singh became India’s first-ever Paralympic gold medalist in archery, beating Poland’s Lukasz Ciszek in a lop-sided final on Wednesday. The 33-year-old Indian, who lost to Kevin Mather of the USA in the Tokyo Paralympics semifinals before securing a bronze three years ago, put up a dominant show to knock out Ciszek 6-0 (28-24, 28-27, 29-25).
Harvinder, who is pursuing Ph.D in Economics, won five back-to-back matches in a single day, showing neither fatigue nor nerves to etch his name in history and clinch India’s second medal in archery. Both his legs are impaired owing to the side effects of dengue treatment that he underwent as a toddler.
Dharambir won the gold medal in the men’s club throw F51 event at the Paralympics 2024. On Wednesday, September 4 at the Stade de France – Seat DT/Club, Dharambir finished on top with the best throw of 34.92m, shattering the Asian record. Pranav Soorma, another Indian, bagged the silver medal with the best attempt of 34.59m in the event.
World champion Sachin Sarjerao Khilari clinched a silver in men’s shot put F46 event with an Asian record distance of 16.32m as the country’s track-and-field athletes continued their unprecedented medal-winning run in the Paralympic Games here on Wednesday.
The 34-year-old Khilari achieved his best throw of the day in his second attempt to better his own Asian record of 16.30m which he set while winning gold in the World Para-Athletics Championships in Japan in May.
As of Friday, September 6, 2024, India’s medal count rose to 26, including six gold, nine silver, and 11 bronze, having already surpassed its best-ever haul.
In its pre-Games estimate, the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) had stated that it was hoping to win at least 25 medals from the quadrennial showpiece and the athletes have surpassed that estimation with a historic show in Paris.
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