Paralympic Games: India have sent an 84-strong contingent, the biggest ever
Paris will again be the centre of attention when the City of Lights hosts the 17 h Paralympic Games.
India have sent 84 para-athletes, who will be aiming for the country’s highest-ever medal haul at the Paralympics. India won a solitary medal in London 2012, a number that went up to 4 in 2016 Rio and 19 in 2021 Tokyo. If the athletes perform to potential, it could cross 25 in Paris. For the record, India’s cumulative medals tally between 1968, when it first participated at the Paralympics, and 2016, was 12.
But then numbers don’t tell half the story. In Rio, for example, India had sent just 19 athletes. In Tokyo, the number swelled to 54. In Paris, India is sending its largest ever Paralympics contingent.
The number of athletes traveling to Paris highlights two major changes. First, India has started to take its Paralympic sports seriously. And second, there is more sensitivity towards para-athletes. In fact, that’s the moot point: para-athletes aren’t just great stories or subjects of sympathy. They may need empathy, but not sympathy. As para-shuttler Manasi Joshi often says, “Pay them their honorarium”.
They are athletes and should be treated and compensated accordingly for their work.
“Since Tokyo, things have undergone a sea change”, said Suhas Yathiraj, IAS officer and a badminton medal contender in Paris. “Now when I travel, people come up to ask for selfies and autographs. They know who I am and what I do. There is a growing consciousness about para sport and that’s heartening to see.”
Sumit Antil,
