Prime Minister Narendra Modi took out time after finishing his official engagements in Brunei to call up and congratulate India’s Paralympic champions as India has now secured a historic performance in the Paris Paralympics by winning 20 medals.
This is India’s best performance at the Paralympics so far, with the country expecting over 25 medals at the games this time after sending a record number of 84 athletes to Paris. India is currently ranked 19 in the medals table at Paris. In the last Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, India had fielded 54 para-athletes and won 19 medals, including five gold medals in nine disciplines. In the previous edition in Rio, only 19 athletes participated and won four medals, including two Gold, and were ranked 43.
This is the third time recently that the Indian Paralympics contingent will be outperforming the Olympics contingent of the country. A hat-trick has been struck at Paris this time as the Indian Paralympians had bagged 19 medals in Tokyo Paralympics and 111 medals in 2022 Asian Para Games, outperforming the Indian Olympics contingent on both occasions as the latter won seven medals in Tokyo and 107 medals at the last Asian Games. At Paris, Indian Olympians won six medals.
News18 has earlier reported how the government has ensured facilities and training for the Paralympians to be at par with the Olympic contingent, helping them to achieve the success.
Officials said every request of para-athletes was examined on urgent basis and support provided for their training, equipment and foreign exposure. All the players practice in SAI centres or private academies with support from SAI. The government has facilitated 110+ international competitions.
An expenditure of approximately Rs 22 crore for Paralympic medal probables and Rs 74 crore for 12 qualified disciplines has been made by the government for support and assistance towards Paris Paralympics cycle.
A dedicated recovery centre with sports science equipment has been built for the first time at the games village similar to Olympics’ contingent. Also, against the limit of 30 per cent support staff, over 100 per cent support staff has been deputed considering the special needs of para-athletes of their personal coaches and sports experts. Additionally, at the state-of-the-art Indian Recovery Centre in Paris, athletes find specially sourced snacks, prepared and delivered by SAI, such as energy bars, protein mixtures and more, carefully chosen to power their performances.
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