India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

made its Summer Paralympic debut at the 1968 Games, competed again in

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

, and then was absent until the 1984 Games. The country has participated in every edition of the Summer games since then. It has never participated in the

Winter Paralympic Games The Winter Paralympic Games is an international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete in snow and ice sports. The event includes athletes with mobility impairments, amputations, blindness, and cerebral palsy. ...

. India's first medal in Paralympics came in 1974 Games, with Murlikant Petkar winning a gold medal in

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

. India's best finish yet has been in the 2020 Games, at 24th place with a medal haul of 19 medals (5 gold, 8 silver and 6 bronze).

History

India's first medal, and also the first individual gold medal, was won in 1972 Games, when Murlikant Petkar swam the 50 meters freestyle in a world record time of 37.331 seconds. India finished at 25th rank in those games. In 1984, Joginder Singh Bedi won silver at the Men's Shot Put and followed it up with a pair of bronze winning performances in the Discus and Javelin throws. Thus, Joginder became the first multi-medallist Paralympian from India. Bhimrao Kesarkar also won a silver medal in Javelin in 1984 Games. India finished 43rd out of the 54 participating nations. India continued to participate in each Paralympic Games thereafter, but failed to make an impact until the 2004 Games when Devendra Jhajharia won gold in

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the wom ...

and Rajinder Singh Rahelu won bronze for

powerlifting Powerlifting is a strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athlete attempting a maximal weight single-lift effo ...

in the 56-kg category. In 2016 Games,

Deepa Malik Deepa Malik (born 30 September 1970) is an Indian athlete. She started her career at the age of 30. She is the first Indian woman to win a medal in Paralympic Games and won a silver medal at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in shot put. She also w ...

won a silver medal in Shot Put to become the first Indian woman to win a Parlaympics medal. The 2020 Games saw India's best-ever medal haul with a total of 19 medals (5 Gold, 8 Silver and 6 Bronze). This result was better than the medal haul of 12 medals of all previous Paralympics appearances combined. The games also had India's best ever participation yet with 54 athletes (40 men, 14 women) across nine sports. It was India's best performance by an overall ranking of 24 (among 162 nations; including Refugee Paralympic Team and

Russian Paralympic Committee The Russian Paralympic Committee (russian: Паралимпийский комитет России) is the National Paralympic Committee representing Russia. History The Russian Paralympic Committee was founded in 1996. On 7 August 2016, i ...

). Shooter Avani Lekhara won two medals - gold in 10m Air Rifle SH1 and bronze in 50m Rifle 3 Positions SH1. Thus, she became the first Indian woman to win an individual gold medal and first woman multi-medalist. Shooter

Singhraj Adhana Singhraj Adhana (born 26 January 1982 in Faridabad, Haryana), known mononymously as Singhraj, is an Indian paralympian and shooter. He won a silver medal in the Mixed 50m pistol SH1 and a bronze medal in the Men's P1 10 metre air pistol SH1 at ...

also won two medals - silver in 50m Pistol SH1 and bronze in 10m Air Pistol SH1 categories. Para-badminton player Suhas Lalinakere Yathiraj became the first civil servant to win a Paralympic medal, a silver in SL4 category. In 2020 Games,

Vinod Kumar Vinod Kumar Alva (born 1 April 1963) is an Indian actor who has worked predominantly in Telugu cinema & also appeared in Kannada,Tamil & Malayalam films. Filmography Telugu *''Mayadari Mogudu'' (1984) *''Mouna Poratam'' (1989) *''Adavilo ...

initially clinched a bronze medal in the men's

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an ancient sport, as demonstrated by th ...

F52 category event. However, other competitors raised questions about his disability and was subsequently designated as "Classification not Completed". His performance was disqualified, resulting in the loss of his medal.

Medals

Medals by Summer Games

Medals by Summer Sport

Medalists

Multiple Medalists

2012 Games Village Controversy

During the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Gam ...

it was reported that coaches and escorts of the Indian Team were denied accommodation in the Games Village because their permits were being used by officials of the

Paralympic Committee of India The Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) is the body responsible for selecting athletes to represent India at the Paralympic Games and other international athletic meets and for managing the Indian teams at the events. The organisation was foun ...

. The Team's 10 athletes were to be assisted by six coaches and five escorts, but only two escorts were given passes; Paralympic Committee General Secretary Ratan Singh confirmed that he had brought his son, that the Committee president had brought his wife, and the treasurer had brought his wife and daughter.

References

{{Paralympic medalists for India