Indian para-athletes eye 12 medals at Paralympics, contingent led by Sumit Antil leaves for Paris

Hopeful of winning five gold and a dozen medals in total, the first batch of the Indian contingent, which includes star javelin thrower Sumit Antil, has already left for the Paris Paralympics to acclimatise to the conditions there. The 16 para athletes will stay in hotels in Paris for a few days before entering the Games Village on August 25, three days before the opening ceremony. Players like Antil, who is trying to become the first Indian to defend his gold medal at the Paralympics, will train at facilities near the French capital to acclimatise to the weather conditions there.

The para athletics events will be held from August 30 to September 8, the closing day of the Paralympics, at the Stade de France, the same venue where able-bodied athletes competed during the Paris Olympics.

“Sumit Antil and some other para athletes will train at the Nelson Mandela Sports Complex for a few days before entering the Games Village,” para-athletics chief coach Satyanarayana told PTI.

The Nelson Mandela Sports Complex is about 5 km from the Stade de France. It has state-of-the-art training facilities for athletics, rugby, tennis, wheelchair tennis and swimming.

“Some players will stay in hotels near the Games Village and will be able to use the training facilities there during the day,” he said.

When asked about the medal prospects of the Indian para-athletics team at the Paris Games, he said, “Our target is to win at least five gold and 12 medals in total. This will be our best performance at the Paralympics.” Satyanarayan’s hopes are linked to the unprecedented success at the 2024 World Para Athletics Championships in Kobe, Japan in May, where India finished sixth in the medal tally with six gold, five silver and six bronze.

Antil (men’s javelin throw F64), Deepti Jeevanjee (women’s 400m T20), Sachin Khiladi (men’s shot put F46), Ekta Bhyan (women’s club throw F51), Simran Sharma (women’s 200m T12) and Mariyappan Thangavelu (men’s high jump T42) won gold medals.

At the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021, India won a record 19 medals (5 gold, 8 silver, and 6 bronze).

India is sending its largest ever contingent of 84 athletes across 12 sports to the Paralympic Games, of which 38 will be from the para-athletics team.

Indian Paralympic Committee president Devendra Jhajharia has predicted at least 25 medals at the Paris Games.

Antil and Bhagyashree Jadhav, who won a silver medal in the women’s shot put F34 event at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games, will be India’s joint flag-bearers during the opening ceremony. This is the first time the ceremony will be held outside a stadium.

The ceremony will be held in the center of Paris from the Champs-Élysées to the Place de la Concorde. The opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics was also held outside a stadium along the Seine River, a first in the history of the Games.

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