Analysing India’s medal contenders at Paris 2024 Paralympics: Avani Lekhara, the shooter who made headlines before Manu Bhaker

Hopes are high for the Indian contingent at the Paris Paralympics to deliver their best-ever showing at the Games, with the benchmark set in Tokyo. Three years back, India finished the Tokyo Paralympics with 19 medals including five gold, eight silver, and six bronze. As has been the case at these Games, para athletics is where once again India’s highest percentage of medals would be expected in Paris as well. But this time around, para badminton, shooting para sport and para archery too have been earmarked for significant results.

Here’s a look at 7 of India’s top medal contenders in Paris.

Sumit Antil (Men’s Javelin Throw – F64)

Sumit’s rise from the Tokyo Paralympics is one of the stories of Indian sport in recent times. He shot to the limelight in some style with a series of world record-breaking throws in Tokyo (where he won gold with 68.55 metres eventually). Sumit has since gone on to win gold at the World Championships twice (Paris 2023 and Kobe 2024), as well at the Asian Para Games last year. In Hangzhou, he broke the World Record again with 73.29m. He is not only India’s flag bearer at the opening ceremony but also the flagbearer for India’s para athletics program.

Mariyappan Thangavelu (Men’s High Jump – T63)

Mariyappan Thangavelu is already a two-time Paralympic medallist. He won gold at Rio 2016 (T42) with a clearance of 1.89m before finishing with a silver in Tokyo with 1.86. Thangavelu’s gold medal at the last World Championships also augurs well, in a field not too different from what we will see in Paris this time. In fact, this could be a very productive event for India with Sharad Kumar and Shailesh Kumar also in the fray in the 8-man field. USA’s Sam Grewe and Ezra Frech will be the Indians’ main rivals for the podium.

Avani Lekhara (Shooting Sport, three events)

Before Manu Bhaker in Paris, there was Avani Lekhara in Tokyo. A teenager back then, Avani was sensational at the last Paralympic Games, where she won two medals, including a gold that made her the first female Paralympic champion in India’s history. In Paris, she will compete in three events: Women’s 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1, Mixed 10m Air Rifle Prone, Women’s 50m Rifle 3 Positions SH1. The gold medal she’d be defending is in the 10m Air Rifle Standing SH1 event, and that will be first up for her. Also in shooting, Manish Narwal is a firm contender in Men’s 10m Air Pistol SH1 where he is the reigning Paralympic and World Champion.

Sheetal Devi (Archery, two events)

Still only 17, Sheetal Devi is already no stranger to making headlines. Armless Archers are rare in the world and Sheetal has made rapid strides in a short time since getting into the sport. She will be one of the three archers shooting with the help of their feet along with the pioneer himself Matt Stutzman and Piotr Van Montagu. Sheetal will be competing in two events: Women’s Individual Compound Open and Mixed Team Compound Open. She had won silver in the individual event at the World Championships in Plzen last year and would be keen to go one step further. Harvinder Singh, history-maker in Tokyo when he won India’s first archery medal at any Summer Games, is also in recurve contention in Paris in two events.

Krishna Nagar (Badminton, Men’s Singles SH6)

There are quite a few medal contenders among male shuttlers in Paris, but all eyes will be on Krishna Nagar who will be looking to defend his gold medal from Tokyo. In the absence of Pramod Bhagat, who was handed an 18-month suspension recently, Krishna is the only returning champion from three years ago. He is seeded third in his class, where Chu Man Kai has the top billing and will be the man to beat. Indian men who have received top seeding are Tokyo bronze medallist Suhas Yathiraj (SL4) and Nitesh Kumar (SL3).

Manisha Ramadass (Badminton, Women’s Singles SU5)

Still only 19, Manisha Ramadass already has built up a solid CV, having won gold at the 2022 World Championships and finishing with a silver earlier this year. India’s Thulasimathi Murugesan is the top seed in this category, but Manisha comes with more singles success in her favour. Yang Qiu Xia of China, however, would perhaps start the favourite as the reigning Paralympic and World Champion. Elsewhere, Nithya Sre Sumathy Sivan is the top seed in SH6 while Tokyo Paralympian Palak Kohli is in contention in two events and would be keen to earn her first medal.

Bhavina Patel (Women’s Singles – WS4)

One of the more impressive medals in Tokyo for the Indian contingent came in table tennis when Bhavina Patel punched well above her world ranking back then of 12 to win silver, the country’s first ever table tennis medal at Olympics or Paralympics. She beat higher-ranked opponents all along, even defeating the Rio 2016 gold medallist Borislava Peric-Rankovic in the quarters and silver medallist Miao Zhang in the semis. The win against the Chinese was especially impressive. This time, Bhavina enters the tournament as the 4th seed and will once again have to overcome the likes of Peric-Rankovic and a couple of Chinese opponents if she has to go back-to-back. Bhavina is also entered to feature in Women’s Doubles – WD10 alongside Sonal Patel.

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