Predictions are a risky business. Especially when they are about sports and the Olympic or Paralympic Games. For the Olympics, we predicted 9-10 medals, and India ended up with 6. Having said that, predictions are also a favourite pastime with us analysts. With the Paralympic Games less than a week away, how is India shaping up for it? Will we use the Games to advance the narrative of equality and sensitivity in the country, and will there be a groundswell of support for the Paralympic movement? Can India turn a new leaf and significantly increase the number of medals that it had won in Tokyo in 2021?
For the record, India won just one medal in the 2012 Paralympics in London. In Rio, the number increased to four and it was a significant achievement for a country that was still trying to come to terms with the Paralympics. In Tokyo, it was a four-fold jump and India ended up with 19 medals from a contingent of 54 athletes – by far the most successful Paralympics in India’s sporting history.
India lost a few very close contests, or else the medal count could well have crossed 20. The momentum continued with the Asian Para Games in 2023, where India won 111 medals last October. It is against this backdrop that India will send its biggest contingent to Paris, hoping for a record medal haul. Even at the risk of being questioned later on, may I say that 25-30 medals in Paris is a very realistic proposition for India (a couple of likely medals have been lost with Pramod Bhagat suspended). Under a new president, Devendra Jhajharia, India’s most decorated Paralympian ever with two golds and a silver to his name, the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) is fielding its best-ever contingent in order to add more to the Tokyo medal count.
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“In badminton, we should win many medals,” said Gaurav Khanna, coach of the National Paralympic Badminton Team. “And we are not just talking here. If you see our performance in every competition in the last two years, you will see where I am coming from. We have won medals in almost every competition globally and are very well prepared for the games.”
Suhas Yathiraj, who has now become a role model for many, concurs with his coach. Yathiraj, who is an IAS officer and served as the DM of Noida during Covid, is hugely hopeful of winning the gold medal himself. “It is about preparation and trusting the process,” he said. “I can tell you we will be the best prepared and if you see our track record in the last few years, there is little doubt Paris will be the best ever games for us.”
Badminton isn’t the only sport where India has done well in the recent past. Athletics continues to be the showstopper with the great Sumit Antil, flagbearer for India with Bhagyashree Yadav, leading the charge. Antil, who breaks world records in almost every event that he takes part in, will go for his second consecutive Paralympic gold medal after Tokyo. “I just don’t want to win the gold medal,” said Antil. “I want to win with a world record throw and try and cross 75 metres. If Neeraj [Chopra] can aim for 90 metres, it is fair I aim to cross 80 metres and set the bar high.”
In Tokyo, Antil broke his own world record three times in a matter of 45 minutes and created a stir that made him perhaps the best Para Athlete at the entire Games. Having won the World Championship gold in Paris last August and the Asian Para Games gold in October, Antil is confident he can continue the same rich vein of form at the Paralympic Games starting on August 28, 2024.
“It is not just about winning medals,” said Jhajharia. “It is also about participating in the maximum number of events and giving yourself the maximum opportunity to win medals. In Tokyo, we participated in 9 of the 22 disciplines. In Paris, we want to change this and participate in many more. That’s when you grow the scope of your sport and allow athletes more opportunities to win.”
If India does go on to win 25-30 medals, there is every reason to believe Jhajharia will stand vindicated. The political class led by the Prime Minister will surely get behind the contingent and Indian Paralympic sport will turn a new corner. More money and more facilities will become a norm, and it will be a telling comment on what we stand for as a country.
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