India's history at Paralympic Games: Everything you need to know

84 Indian para-athletes will be in action at the upcoming 2024 Paris Paralympic Games and they will aim for the best-ever finish for India at the Paralympics.

At the Tokyo Paralympics, the Indian contingent won a historic 19 medals finishing 24th in the medal tally with five gold, eight silver, and six bronze medals.

But how did the medal tally look when India first participated in the Paralympics?

The Bridge brings the history of Indian para-athletes at the much revered Paralympic Games and where did the journey start?

1968 Paralympic Games- Tel Aviv

India's first-ever participation came at the 1968 Paralympic Games in Tel-Aviv when 10 Indian athletes participated across different events.

Muralikant Petkar, India's first-ever Paralympic Champion, participated in Table Tennis at the 1968 Games. India returned without any medals from the event.

1972 Paralympic Games- Munich

It didn't take India to feature in the medal table as Muralikant Petkar created history by winning India's first-ever individual gold medal and first-ever medal at the 1972 Munich Paralympic Games.

Changing his sport to Swimming from Table Tennis, Muralikant set the world record in men's 50m freestyle 3 with a timing of 37.33 seconds and clinched a historic gold medal.

This was India's first-ever individual gold medal across both the Olympics and Paralympics as India finished 25th on the medal tally.

1984 Paralympic Games- USA

India sent only five participants to the 1984 Paralympic Games after being absent from the 1976 and 1980 editions.

Despite sending only five para-athletes, India won four medals including two silver medals and two bronze medals. All the four medals came in Para-Athletics.

Joginder Singh Bedi won three medals including one silver and bronze medal. He won silver in Men's Shot Put L6 and won bronze medals in Men's javelin L6 and Men's Discus throw L6.

Bhimrao Kesarkar won the other silver medal for the country and India finished joint 37th in the medals tally.

1988 Paralympic Games- Seoul

Only two Indian para-athletes participated at the 1988 Seoul Paralympic Games and India returned without a medal after winning four medals in the previous edition.

1992, 1996, 2000 Paralympic Games- Barcelona, Atlanta, Sydney

India's barren run continued at the Paralympic Games with the country returning medal-less from three consecutive editions- 1992 Barcelona, 1996 Atlant, and 2000 Sydney.

Nine athletes participated in the 1992 and 1996 editions while four participated in the 2000 edition.

2004 Paralympic Games- Athens

Paralympic Committee of India president Devendra Jhajharia ended India's wait of 20 years for a medal and threw 62.15m in men's F44/46 Javelin Throw to win India's second-ever gold medal and set the world record.

India won another medal as Rajinder Singh Rahelu won a bronze medal in men's 56kg powerlifting. India finished joint 53rd in the medal tally.

2008 Paralympic Games- Beijing

After the high of Athens, the Indian contingent recorded another disappointing campaign and failed to win any medal at the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing, China.

India sent 10 para-athletes across four events but failed to come back with any medals.

2012 Paralympic Games- London

Jumper Girisha Nagarajegowda saved India's blushes at the 2012 London Olympics with a silver medal in the men's F42 high jump event. He jumped 1.74m to clinch the silver medal.

Other Indian athletes failed to put on a good show and India finished 67th in the medal tally.

2016 Paralympic Games- Rio

The 2016 Rio Paralympic Games was a historic event for India and the Indian para-athletes.

With the largest-ever Paralympic contingent, India returned home with four medals including two gold medals, and finished 43rd in the medal tally recording India's best-ever show at the Paralympic Games.

Devendra Jhajharia returned after 12 years to set another world record of 63.97m and win himself a second gold medal at the Paralympics making him the first-ever Indian para-athlete to do so.

Former PCI president Deepa Malik became the first-ever Indian woman para-athlete to win a medal with her silver medal in the women's shot put F-53 event.

Mariyappan Thangavelu became the first-ever Indian jumper to win a gold with a distance of 1.89m in the men's T42 High Jump event and Varun Kumar Bhati won bronze in the same event with a jump of 1.86m.

2020 Paralympic Games- Tokyo

The 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games were a pathbreaking event in the history of Indian para-sports.

The 54-member Indian contingent returned home with a total of 19 medals including five gold, eight silver, and six bronze medals. India finished 24th in the medal tally recording a historic campaign.

It was an event of many firsts for the Indian contingent as the para-athletes won medals for the first time in sports like shooting, badminton, table tennis, and archery.

Avani Lekhara (Shooting), Sumit Antil (Athletics), Manish Narwal (Shooting), Pramod Bhagat (Badminton), and Krishna Nagar (Badmintn) were the gold medalists for India.

Avani also became the first-ever Indian Paralympian to win two medals in the same edition with a gold and a bronze medal in shooting.