India was introduced at the Paralympics in the summer season in the year 1968 and competed again in the year 1972. India has participated in every edition of the Summer Games since then. It has never participated in the Winter Paralympic Games. India is scheduled to compete at the 2016 Summer Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 7 to 18 September 2016.
History of Paralympics in India
In the year 1972 at the Heidelberg Games, Murlikant Petkar, swam the 50 meters freestyle in a world record time of 37.331 seconds to give India her first ever Gold.
India finished 24th out of the 42 participating nations. In 1984, Joginder Singh Bedi won silver at the Men`s Shot Put and followed it up with a pair of bronze winning performances in the Discus and Javelin throws. Another Indian, Bhimrao Kesarkar, won the silver medal in the Javelin. India finished 37th out of the 54 participating nations.
Successive years in Paralympics
After the success of the cooperative effort between the ICC and the IOC, which resulted in the 1988 Summer Paralympics in Seoul, the ICC determined the need to expand and include representatives from all nations that had disability sports programs.
1988 Summer Paralympics
The 1988 Summer Paralympics in India were the first Paralympics in 24 years that take place in the same city as the Olympic Games. This was the first time the term Paralympics Games came into official use. They also deemed it necessary to include athletes in the decisions of the Paralympics governing body. Consequently this body was reorganized as the International Paralympics Committee (IPC) in 1989.The IPC is the global governing body of the Paralympic Movement. It comprises 165 National Paralympics Committees (NPC) and four disability-specific international sports federations.
Comeback of India in Paralympics
India continued to participate in each Paralympics Games thereafter, but failed to make an impact till the 2004 Summer Paralympics in Athens when Devendra Jhajharia, Javelin thrower, won gold and Rajinder Singh won bronze for power lifting in the 56-kg category. India finished 53rd out of the 136 nation field.
Players of Indian Paralympics
H. N. Girisha, an Indian Athlete born with a disability in the left leg, won the silver medal in the 2012 Paralympics games held in London in the men`s high jump F-42 category.
Rajinder Singh Rahelu won a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Paralympics in the 56 kg category. He represented India at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, finishing fifth in the final standings. The Arjuna Award recipient, Rajinder Singh Rahelu represented India at the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, United Kingdom; he failed in all his three attempts at 175 kilograms.
Girisha Hosanagara Nagarajegowda also known as Girish N. Gowda was born with a disability in the left leg. Girisha Hosanagara Nagarajegowda represented India in the 2012 Paralympics games held in London in the men`s high jump F-42 category and won the silver medal. Winning the Silver medal in the finals with a jump of 1.74 meters using scissors technique, he became the 8th Indian to win a medal at the Paralympics.
Sharath M. Gayakwad is an Indian Paralympics swimmer from Bengaluru. At the 2014 Asian Games, he broke P.T. Usha`s record for most number of medals by an Indian at any multi-discipline event by winning 6 medals. Coming from a modest financial background, he has over 30 international and 40 national medals to his credit, one of them being the bronze medal at the 2010 Asian Para Games. He is the first Indian swimmer to qualify for the Paralympics and competed in the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London. Sharath M. Gayakwad has been receiving both monetary and non-monetary support from the GoSports Foundation, Bengaluru since 2011.
Paralympics Swimmers in India
Paralympics swimmers in India with their talent and with their valiant heart and hunger for victory made them special in the field of sports. They lead a life like other common people, though they have a disability in their physic. Some of the Paralympics swimmers in India are Sharath M. Gayakwad, Niranjan Mukundan, Parasanta Karmakar and Murlikant Petkar. Indian swimmer Suyash Jadhav finished 1st in final of Men`s 50m Butterfly-S7 category at IWAS World Games 2015 on 1st October 2015 and achieved A mark for Paralympic Games.
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