India at the Paralympics

India first participated in the 1968 Summer Paralympics. The nation has appeared in every edition of the Summer Paralympics since 1984. The Paris 2024 Games marked India's 13th appearance at the Paralympics. The country has never participated in the Winter Paralympic Games.

India at the Paralympics
IPC code	IND
NPC	Paralympic Committee of India
Website	Paralympic India
Medals Ranked 55th	Gold 16 Silver 21 Bronze 23 Total 60
Summer appearances
1968 1972 1976–1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024

India's first medal in the Paralympics came in the 1972 Games, with Murlikant Petkar winning a gold medal in swimming. Prior to the 2024 Games, India had won 31 medals across all Paralympic Games, with the most successful Paralympic campaign being the Paris 2024 Games with 29 medals including seven gold, nine silver and thirteen bronze.

Stoke Mandeville Games (1960–1984)

The ninth International Stoke Mandville Games was later designated as the first Paralympics in 1960 and the International Stoke Mandeville Games Federation organized the Paralympic Games till 1984.^[1] India made its Paralympics debut in 1968.^[2] India's first medal came in the 1972 Games when Murlikant Petkar won the gold medal in the men's 50 meter freestyle event.^[3][4] India missed the subsequent two Summer Paralympic Games and returned in the 1984 edition. The nation has appeared in every edition of the Summer Paralympic Games since then while it has never participated in the Winter Paralympic Games.^[2] In the 1984 Games, Joginder Singh Bedi became the first Indian multi-medalist after he won a silver and two bronze medals in the athletics events. Bhimrao Kesarkar also won a silver medal in the javelin throw event to help record India's best finish till then with four medals.^[5]

Early Paralympic Games (1988–2000)

The 1988 Seoul Paralympics was the first to use the Paralympics name and the event has been held in the same host city as the corresponding Summer Olympic Games since then. The Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) was formed in 1994, five years after the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) was established in 1989.^[1][6] India continued to participate in each Paralympic Games thereafter, but failed to win a medal until the 2004 Games.^[5]

Early 21st century (2004–2016)

In 2004, India won two medals with Devendra Jhajharia winning a gold medal in the javelin throw event and Rajinder Singh Rahelu securing a bronze medal in powerlifting.^[5] The only Indian medal across the next two editions came from Girisha Nagarajegowda, who won a silver medal in the Men's high jump F42 event at the 2012 Games.^[7]

India sent a delegation of 19 athletes for the 2016 Summer Paralympics.^[8] India won four medals in the event and the Games also marked the first instance of India winning two gold medals. Mariyappan Thangavelu won the first gold medal in the Men's high jump T42 event. Devendra Jhajharia became the first Indian to win multiple gold medals after his win in the Men's javelin throw F46 event.^[5][9] Deepa Malik and Varun Bhati were the other medalists with a silver and bronze medal respectively.^[5] Malik became the first Indian woman medalist in the Paralympic Games.^[10]

Tokyo Games (2020)

The Indian contingent for the 2020 Games consisted of 54 people across nine sports.^[11] This was the nation's most successful Games ever with 19 medals including five gold, eight silver and six bronze medals.^{[12] [13]} Bhavina Patel won India's first medal, a silver in Table Tennis.^[14] Avani Lekhara became the first Indian woman paralympic athlete to win a gold medal and she won another bronze medal to become the first Indian woman multiple medalist in Paralympic shooting.^[15] Shooter Manish Narwal won another gold medal in 50 m pistol SH1 event and Singhraj Adhana won two shooting medals, a silver and a bronze.^[16] Harvinder Singh became the first Indian to win a medal in Paralympic archery after he won a bronze medal in the men's recurve event.^[17]

In badminton, Indian shuttlers won four medals including two gold medals by Pramod Bhagat and Krishna Nagar, a silver medal by Suhas Yathiraj and a bronze medal by Manoj Sarkar.^[12] In athletics, India won eight medals including one gold, five silver and two bronze medals. Sumit Antil won a gold medal in Javelin throw F64 with a new world record. Mariyappan Thangavelu and Devendra Jhajharia won silver medals to go along with the gold medals they won in the 2016 Games.^[12][5] This was Jhajharia third medal, which is the most by an Indian Para athlete in the Paralympic Games along with Joginder Singh Bedi.^[18] Nishad Kumar and Praveen Kumar won silver medals and Sharad Kumar and Sundar Singh Gurjar were the other bronze medalists.^[12][5]

Paris Games (2024)

India sent its largest contingent for the 2024 Games consisting of 84 people competing across 12 sports.^[19] India has won 29 medals with seven gold, nine silver, and thirteen bronze medals.^[20] Avani Lekhara won a gold medal in shooting for the second consecutive Games and became the first Indian woman paralympic athlete to win back-to-back gold and multiple medals.^[21] Kumar Nitesh won a gold medal in badminton at the men's singles SL3 event.^[22] Sumit Antil became the first Indian male athelete to defend a title at the Paralympics after he won the gold medal in the men's javelin throw F64 event, while setting two Paralympic records in the process.^[23]

Shooter Manish Narwal won a silver medal, his second medal after his gold medal in the 2020 Games.^[24] Nishad Kumar and Yogesh Kathuniya won silver medals at the men's high jump T47 and the men's discus throw F56 events respectively, in a repeat of their performance from Tokyo 2020.^[25][26] Suhas Yathiraj also won a silver medal for the second consecutive Games in the men's singles SL4 para-badminton event.^[27] Thulasimathi Murugesan won the first para-badminton silver medal at the women's singles SU5 event.^[28] Ajeet Singh Yadav and Sundar Singh Gurjar won the silver and bronze medals respectively in the men's javelin throw F46 event. This was Gurjar's second medal after he finished third in the same event in the previous Games.^[29] Sharad Kumar won his second Paralympic medal, a silver in the men's high jump T63 event. Mariyappan Thangavelu won a medal at his third successive Paralympic Games with a bronze in the same event.^[30] Sachin Khilari won India's fifth athletics silver medal, finishing second in the men's shot put F46 event.^[31]

Preethi Pal won India's first track medals at athletics by clinching two bronze medals in the women's 100m and 200m T35 events.^[32] Mona Agarwal and Rubina Francis also won bronze medals in shooting.^[20][33] Sheetal Devi became the youngest Indian Paralympic medalist after she won a bronze medal in the compound archery event along with Rakesh Kumar.^[34] Manisha Ramadass and Nithya Sivan won bronze medals in women's para-badminton events.^[35] Deepthi Jeevanji won the bronze medal at the women's 400 m T20 race and became the youngest Indian track medalist at the Paralympic Games.^[36]

Milestones

• India at the Olympics
• India at the World Games
• India at the Asian Games
• India at the Commonwealth Games
• India at the Lusofonia Games
• India at the South Asian Games