Paris Paralympics: India's medal tally reaches 20, surpassing Tokyo 2021 record

India's medal tally on Day 6 of Paris Paralympics hit 20 after the contingent clinched medals towards the end of the day on September 3, recording their best-ever tally of 19 medals in Tokyo in 2021.

Deepthi Jeevanji, Sharad Kumar, Mariyappan Thangavelu, Ajeet Singh and Sundar Gurjar bagged medals, ensuring India marked a brilliant ending. 

Bhagyashri Mahavrao and Avani Lekhara finished 5th in the Women's Shot Put - F34 Final and Women's 50m Rifle 3 Positions SH1 Final respectively.

India won 19 medals in Tokyo in 2021 which was their best-ever tally in the Paralympics. Meanwhile, India can take the tally higher than 20 with four more competition days left.

Pooja Khanna was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the Women's Individual Recurve Open as the onus fell on Jeevanji and the high jump and javelin athletes to make a mark. Jeevanji secured India’s third track medal by winning bronze in the women’s 400m T20 final. The world champion sprinter clocked a time of 55.82 seconds to claim the podium finish.

At the Paris Paralympics, Ajeet Singh and Sundar Gurjar delivered outstanding performances in the men's javelin F46 event, securing medals for India. The duo achieved their season-best throws to claim silver and bronze, completing a remarkable 2-3 finish for the country.

India’s third participant, Rinku, also recorded his season-best performance with a throw of 61.58 meters, finishing in fifth place in the event.

India’s Sharad Kumar won silver, and Mariyappan Thangavelu secured bronze in the Men’s High Jump - T63 Final on Tuesday, September 3. Sharad achieved a top jump of 1.88 meters, setting a new Paralympic record in the T42 category, surpassing the previous record held by Mariyappan, who had claimed silver at the Tokyo Games. This time, Mariyappan had to settle for bronze with a best jump of 1.85 meters.

Shailesh Kumar, the third Indian competitor in the event, also recorded a personal best of 1.85 meters but missed out on a medal as he cleared the height on his second attempt.

India are currently 17th in the medal standings with 3 gold, 7 silver and 10 bronze to their name.