India Break Tokyo Games Record At Paralympics As Tally Hits 20-Medal Milestone After 5 Medals On Day 6

The Indian contingent recorded their best-ever as they surpassed their Tokyo Games medal count of 19, having amassed 20 medals at the Paris Paralympics. Sharad Kumar clinched the silver medal while Mariyappan Thangavelu came up with bronze in the men's high jump T63 category. Ajeet Singh and Sundar Singh Gurjar bagged silver and bronze respectively in the javelin throw F46 final while Deepthi Jeevanji won bronze.

Paris (France): Indian para-athletes clinched silver and bronze in both men's high jump T63 and javelin throw F46 after Deepthi Jeevanji's bronze in the women's 400m T20 category as the country's track and field athletes clinched five medals at the Paralympic Games here on Tuesday. This exceptional performance marked India's best-ever medal tally at any Paralympics Games as they surpassed their previous best of 19 medals in Tokyo Games.

The 32-year-old Sharad Kumar and the 29-year-old Mariyappan Thangavelu won silver and bronze respectively in the men's high jump T63 while Ajeet Singh and Sundar Singh Gurjar had to settle on bronze as they finished at the third spot in the javelin throw F46 final.

Kumar cleared 1.88m while the 29-year-old Thangavelu's best effort was 1.85m. World record holder Frech Ezra of the USA won the gold. T63 classification is for athletes with single through knee or above knee limb deficiency competing with a prosthesis.

Both Kumar and Thangavelu were T42 athletes who had single above-the-knee amputations or a comparable disability. T63 and T42 athletes can be combined in a single event and that was what happened on Tuesday. Gold winner Ezra is a T63 athlete and he competed with a prosthesis. In fact, Kumar's 1.88m effort is a Paralympic record in T42, bettering the earlier 1.86m set by Thangavelu.

Ajeet upstaged world record holder Gurjar (64.96m) with a fifth-round throw of 65.62m. Guillermo Gonzalez Varona of Cuba won gold with 66.16m. It was Gurjar's second consecutive bronze in the Paralympics as he won the same colour medal in 2020 Tokyo Games.

F46 classification is for athletes with arm deficiency, impaired muscle power or impaired passive range of movement in arms, with athletes competing in a standing position.

Earlier in the day, India's world champion Deepthi won a bronze medal in the women's 400m T20 category final race. Deepthi clocked 55.82 seconds to finish behind Yuliia Shuliar (55.16 seconds) of Ukraine and world record holder Aysel Onder (55.23) of Turkey. The T20 category is meant for athletes with intellectual impairment.

Turkish runner Onder smashed Deepthi's world record during the heats on Monday with a time of 54.96 seconds. Deepthi, born to daily-wage labourer parents in Kalleda village in the Warangal district of Telangana, became the second Indian to win a medal in a track event at the Paralympics after Preethi Pal.

For a long time, Deepthi's parents were taunted by fellow villagers for having a "mentally impaired" child. They were at the receiving end of taunts from the villagers, who would often say that she would never get married since she was "mentally impaired". Deepthi, who was making her Paralympics debut, had won the 400m T20 gold in the Hangzhou Asian Games last year with a then-Asian record of 56.69 seconds.

By winning five medals in a day, India jumped to 17th place on the medal tally at the end of the day’s action with three gold, seven silver and 10 bronze medals. (with agency inputs)