Simran (right) with her guide at Paris Paralympics 2024.© X (formerly Twitter)

File photo of Kasthuri Rajamani.© X (Twitter)

Having successfully changed the colour of his medal from bronze at Tokyo Paralympics to gold at Paris, India’s star para archer Harvinder Singh’s next target is to continue his successful run and complete his PhD. The first Indian para archer to have won a Paralympics medal at Tokyo, Harvinder rewrote history when he bagged the country’s maiden gold in the men’s recurve event at Paris on Thursday. “The preparations were going well in India at SAI Sonipat where I had both my coaches and that helped a lot. We came to France 15 days before (the event) and I was shooting well,” he told the media on Friday while discussing his preparations for the Paralympics.

“I was working on a few technical aspects. I wanted to go to Korea about 3-4 months ago but the coach was called here at SAI Sonipat,” said Harvinder, who has a disability in his legs following a medical mishap when he was one-and-a-half years old.

A local doctor administered him an injection which left him unable to move his legs properly after he had contracted dengue.

The first Indian to win a Paralympics medal in archery at Tokyo, Harvinder said he felt what the pressure of expectations means while he was preparing for Paris.

“The way the others would wish ‘best of luck’, it would be in a way that would convey to me that I now needed to change the colour (of the medal). It tells you the kind of exceptions that are there,” he said.

Harvinder, who was drawn into para archery after the 2012 Olympics, said he aims to finish his PhD which had to be put on the hold as his career took off in sports.

“I was active in studies until 2018. From 2012, I would study in the morning and practice in the evening and there would be days when I would have two sessions,” he said.

“I got busier in sports after I got the medal (gold in Asian Para Games) in 2018 and because of all of that, my PhD got delayed.” “I am doing PhD in economics from the Punjab University in Patiala, and since I have to win medals for the country, preparations for big tournaments also happened at big level which does not give me time, but I hope to finish my PhD in the next few months,” Harvinder said.

The 33-year-old also wants to relive the experience of seeing the Indian flag held up high and the national anthem being played as he wishes to win more medals.

“Every athlete dreams to win the gold medals, that their country’s flag flies high, the national anthem gets sung… all that happened here and I would hope that I am able to replicate it in the next competitions such as the World Championships,” he said.

Harvinder said he was mentally prepared to tackle the pressure in the Paralympics.

“I had handled the pressure before, of the semifinals and of the podium. I had it in my mind that I have to win (the gold), but the challenge was to bring it out in terms of performance and we were successful in it,” he said.

Harvinder hoped his feat in Paris is able to inspire lot many para athletes and bring more competitors to archery in general.

“The next challenge for me is to maintain this performance. I had got a lot of phone calls and messages after winning the the medal in Tokyo. This medal will contribute in the growth of para archery and archery in India,” he said.

Gold medal-winning archer Harvinder Singh and sprinter Preethi Pal, who made history by becoming the first-ever Indian woman to win two medals at the Paralympics, will be the country’s flag bearers during the closing ceremony of the Paris Games on Sunday. Harvinder, 33, who had also scripted history by becoming the first Indian archer to clinch a gold at the Paralympics to add to the bronze he won in Tokyo in 2021, said carrying the country’s flag during the closing ceremony was the highest honour he could have dreamed of.

“Winning gold for India has been a dream come true, and now leading our nation as a flag-bearer at the closing ceremony is the highest honour I could imagine. This victory is for everyone who believed in me, and I hope to inspire many more to pursue their dreams,” said the Haryana-based Harvinder, who has impairment in both legs since he was a toddler.

Preethi, 23, who clinched bronze medals in women’s T35 100m and 200m competitions with personal best timings of 14.21 and 30.01 seconds respectively, said she was thrilled with the news.

“It is a great honour to represent India as a flag bearer. This moment is not just about me; it’s about every para-athlete who has pushed their limits to make our nation proud. I am thrilled to be leading our incredible team at the closing ceremony.” Preeti, born in Uttar Pradesh, is a T35 athlete, who suffers from coordination impairments such as hypertonia, ataxia and athetosis.

The Indian contingent’s chef de mission Satya Prakash Sangwan said in a statement that the two athletes’ performance will inspire the future generations.

“Harvinder Singh’s historic gold in archery and Preethi Pal’s stellar performance in athletics have made them true ambassadors of our nation’s grit and determination.

“Their role as flag-bearers at the closing ceremony is a symbol of the incredible journey our athletes have undertaken. Their achievements inspire us all, and I am confident they will continue to motivate future generations of para-athletes,” said Sangwan.

India has so far won 26 medals, including six gold and nine silver, which is their best ever performance at the Paralympics.

File photo of Simran Sharma.© X (formerly Twitter)

Indian athlete Ajeet Singh Yadav shone with a silver medal at the Paris Paralympics 2024. Late on the Tuesday-Wednesday night, the star claimed a silver medal in the javelin throw F46 final. Ajeet upstaged compatriot and world record holder Sundar Singh Gurjar (64.96m) with a fifth-round throw of 65.62m to achieve the glory. A podium finish at the sports’ biggest extravaganza was nothing short of a dream for Ajeet, who was certainly at the lowest point in his life seven years ago. He was 23 years old when an accident turned his life upside down.

It happened in the year 2017 when Ajeet was a research assistant at Laxmibai National Institute of Physical Education (LNIPE), Gwalior, says The Indian Express in a report.

Ajeet was returning from a marriage in Jabalpur. He and his junior Anshuman got off to a station to fetch water at a stop. The duo failed return in time and their train Kamayani Express started leaving the station with both of them still being on the platform.

In a rush, Ajeet managed to get into the train but his junior Anshuman fell from the stairs of the bogey. In an attempt to make the save, a selfless Ajeet got hold of Anshuman but forgot about himself. As a result, both of them fell off with the train catching speed. As fate would have it, Ajeet’s left arm below the elbow came under the wheels of the train.

“Ajeet sir tried to save me and while he got hold of me, he lost his balance and we both fell. But then he fell towards the train and his left arm came under the wheels. After going to the local hospital and then in Satna, we were referred to Jabalpur, where we got the treatment. Whenever I talked with him that he saved my life that day, Ajeet sir asks me not to speak and hugs me. Now that he will return with the silver medal, it will be my turn to hug him,” said Anshuman as quoted in that report.

Ajeet, who hails from a village near Etawah in Uttar Pradesh, was always passionate about javelin throw and he was good at it too. The accident in 2017 saw him get more serious and focussed in the sport. It was a misfortunate incident but Ajeet’s hard work and dedication saw him changing the tides in his favour.

Around four years after the incident, Ajeet finished at the 8th spot at the Tokyo Paralympics. After this, he was hit with an elbow injury, but a brilliant comeback saw Ajeet clinching the Para World title in Paris besides winning a bronze medal at Hangzhou Asian Games.

In 2024, Ajeet claimed a bronze at the world championships before shining with a silver at the Paris Paralympics.

Kapil Parmar bagged India’s first-ever Paralympic medal in judo, winning a bronze in the men’s 60kg (J1) after convincingly defeating Brazil’s Elielton de Oliveira in the play-off in Paris on Thursday. Parmar produced a superlative performance, dominating his opponent from start to finish to record a 10-0 win in the bronze medal contest. He had earlier lost to S Banitaba Khorram Abadi in the semifinals, beaten 0-10 by his Iranian opponent.

The J1 class in para judo is for the athletes who suffer from no to very low visual activity. Athletes in this category wear red circles to indicate that they may need guided support before, during and after a contest.

Parmar, who won the silver medal at the 2022 Asian Games in the same category, had earlier beaten Venezuela’s Marco Dennis Blanco 10-0 in the quarterfinals.

Parmar was, however, handed a yellow card in each of the two contests on Thursday.

Yellow cards in judo are given for minor violations such as passivity or using a technique that might hinder the opponent or cause injury.

Parmar hails from a small village named Shivor in Madhya Pradesh. As a child, Parmar had a life-altering accident when he was playing in the fields of his village and accidentally touched a water pump, resulting in a severe electric shock.

He was found unconscious by a villager and taken to the hospital, where he remained in coma for six months.

He is the youngest of four brothers and a sister. His middle brother, who is also into judo, often trains with him. Parmar’s father works as a taxi driver, while his sister runs a primary school.

Despite the setback, Parmar never gave up his love for judo. He continued to pursue his passion in blind judo, thanks to his mentor and coaches Bhagwan Das and Manoj.

It was not end of the struggle for Parmar who used to run a tea stall with his brother Lalit to make ends meet.

Lalit, his source of inspiration, even now remains his main source of financial support.

India’s world champion Deepthi Jeevanji came up short of her best timing as she won a bronze medal in the women’s 400m T20 category final race at the Paralympics on Tuesday. Deepthi, who turns 21 later this month, clocked 55.82 seconds to finish behind Yuliia Shuliar (55.16 seconds) of Ukraine and world record holder Aysel Onder (55.23) of Turkey. Shuliar had won a silver in Tokyo Paralympics three years ago.

Deepthi had come into Paris Paralympics as a strong contender for the gold after a top-place finish at the World Para-Athletics Championships in May in Japan where she had clocked the-then world record of 55.07 seconds.

Turkish runner Onder smashed Deepthi’s world record during the heats on Monday with a time of 54.96 seconds. Onder had finished second behind Deepthi in the 2024 World Para-Athletics Championships in May.

T20 category is meant for athletes with intellectual impairment.

Nonetheless, Deepthi, born to daily-wage labourer parents in Kalleda village in the Warangal district of Telangana, became the second Indian to win a medal in a track event at the Paralympics after Preethi Pal.

On Sunday, Preethi had created history as she became the first Indian woman track and field athlete to win two medals at the Paralympics. The 23-year-old Preethi bagged a bronze in the 200m T35 category with a personal best time of 30.01 seconds. She had also won a bronze in the 100m T35 category on Friday.

Deepthi’s bronze, won in her debut Paralympics, was India’s sixth medal from para-athletics.

For a long time, Deepthi’s parents were taunted by fellow villagers for having a “mentally impaired” child. They were at the receiving end of taunts from the villagers, who would often say that she would never get married since she was “mentally impaired”.

At the age of 15, Deepthi was first spotted by N Ramesh, an Athletics Federation of India coach under the payrolls of the Sports Authority of India.

Deepthi had won the 400m T20 gold in the Hangzhou Asian Games last year with the then Asian record of 56.69 seconds.

Interestingly, Deepthi has competed along with able-bodied athletes in the junior as well as senior championships. She has won several medals at the junior level while competing alongside able-bodied athletes.

She last competed in an able-bodied senior event at the 2022 National Inter-State Championships in Chennai where she ran the 100m and 200m. Before that, she competed with able-bodied athletes during the 2021 National Senior Inter-State Championships in Patiala and won the 200m bronze.

She won the 200m bronze in the 2019 Asian U18 Championships (able-bodied) with a time of 24.78 seconds.

Earlier in the day, Bhagyashri Jadhav finished fifth in the women’s shot put (F34).

Jadhav, making her second appearance at the Paralympics, produced a throw of 7.28m but it was not enough for a podium finish.

China’s Lijuan Zou won the gold with a season best of 9.14m while Poland’s Lucyna Kornobys secured the silver with an effort of 8.33m.

The 39-year-old from Nanded district in Maharashtra was one of the flag-bearers of the Indian contingent at the opening ceremony.

Athletes in the F34 class have to deal with co-ordination impairments including hypertonia (stiff muscles), ataxia (poor muscle control) and athetosis (slow, writhing movement of the limbs or trunk).

Bhagyashri Jadhav in action© X (Twitter)

India suffered heartbreak from the archery arena as Sarita Kumari’s splendid run ended in quarterfinals, while armless wonder Sheetal Devi crashed out of the last-16 in the compound women’s open category at the Paralympics in Paris Paralympics 2024 on Saturday. Faridabad’s Sarita, who qualified as ninth seed, had a dominating outings in the first and second rounds before top-seed Oznur Cure Girdi of Korea halted her dream run in the last eight. Oznur, who smashed the world record to top the qualifying round with a score of 704 out of a maximum 720 points, shot three perfect 10s in the second end to take a healthy five-point lead.

Sarita took the third end and matched Oznur’s 30 with a perfect fourth end, but the Turkey archer remained four points in the lead, riding on her strong starts and wrapped it up with a 29 in the fifth end.

Sheetal, who draws the arrow with her toes, endured a blip in the second end where she shot the 7-point red ring to go down to Tokyo silver medalist Mariana Zuniga of Chile 137-138 in the pre-quarters.

All eyes were on Asian Para Games double gold medalist Sheetal, who also had bettered the previous world record of 698 shooting 703, to get a bye into the last-16 round.

Sheetal started out on a positive note as she hit two X dropped one point to take the opening set 29-28.

But her 7-point in the second arrow gave the Chilean seasoned archer the much-needed opening as she won the second end 27-26 to make it level (55-all).

It was a neck-and-neck affair for the duo in the next eight arrows, before Mariana edged out Sheetal in the final arrow by shooting a 9 as the Paralympics debutant Sheetal slipped to the 8-ring to lose by one-point.

On a day second seed Sheetal suffered an early elimination, ninth seed Sarita put up a dominated from the start to down Italy’s Eleonora Sarti 141-135 in a one-sided affair in her pre-quarters.

The ninth seeded Sarita, who won a team silver medal at the Asian Para Games last year, dropped just one point to take a four-point lead in the first end.

There was no looking back as she stretched the lead to five points in the second end where she shot one X (closer to the centre).

Her higher-ranked Italian rival pulled off two 10s and took the third end, but Sarita remained in control and sealed the issue with two solid ends.

Sarita earlier knocked out Nur Jannaton Abdul Jalil of Malaysia 138-124 in her first round clash.

In the open class, archers shoot from a sitting position at a distance of 50m at an 80cm five-ring target made up of the 10-6 point bands.