Pune, September 14
India's Sachin Sarjerao Khilari, the silver medallist in the men's shot put F46 event at the Paris Paralympics 2024, paid a visit to the historic Shrimant Bhausaheb Rangari Ganapati Temple in Pune, Maharashtra.
Khilari, who delivered a stellar performance at the Paralympics, took this opportunity to express his gratitude and seek blessings following his remarkable achievement.
The Indian contingent concluded its Paralympics campaign in Paris on Sunday with a record haul of 29 medals, including seven golds, nine silvers, and 13 bronzes.
The 29-medal tally is the most by India in the history of the Paralympics. Following the conclusion of the landmark campaign, India surpassed its record medal tally of 19, which was achieved at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. India ended the marquee event in the 18th position.
India rewrote several records and unlocked some new "firsts" at the Paralympic Games. Para-shooter Avani Lekhara became the first ever Indian woman to secure two Paralympic gold medals as she managed to defend her women's 10m air rifle standing SH1 shooting title with a world record score of 249.7 points.
India recorded a one-two finish at a para-athletics competition for the first time, with Dharambir and Parnav Soorma clinching gold and silver, respectively, in the men's club throw F51 event. This was among India's first-ever medals in this sport. Dharambir also set an Asian record of 34.92 m.
In the T64 high jump event, Praveen Kumar stood at the top of the podium with an Asian record-breaking jump of 2.08 m, landing India their sixth gold. India finished the competition with seven gold medals.
India also found its first-ever archery champion across the Olympics and Paralympics, with Harvinder Singh getting the gold in the individual recurve para-archery against Poland's Lukasz Ciszek.
Indian javelin throw ace Sumit Antil became the first Indian male to defend their Paralympics title, making it back-to-back gold in the F64 event with a stunning Paralympic record-breaking throw of 70.59 m. He broke his own previous record set during the Tokyo 2020 not once, but thrice.
Harvinder Singh wrote history after claiming India's first-ever gold medal in para-archery at the Paralympics. He was named flagbearer for India for the closing ceremony alongside Preeti Pal.