Glasgow: Indian para sports athletes scripted history in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games as they equaled the haul of all the previous editions put together, winning seven medals, including one gold and silver on Saturday.
The 28-member Indian para sports contingent ended their campaign with seven medals — 3 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze. On Sunday, Indians will feature in track cycling and para track cycling events.
It is the best ever performance for Indian para sports in the Commonwealth Games.
Since the introduction of para-sports in the CWG in 2002 edition in Manchester, India have won a total of seven medals — one gold, two silver and four bronze.
Before Glasgow, the 2022 Birmingham Games was the most productive one for Indian para sports with Bhavina Patel and Sonalben Patel winning a gold and a bronze respectively in para table tennis.
Sudhir, who won gold in para powerlifting in Birmingham, was later stripped of his medal after failing an in-competition dope test.
In Glasgow, para track and field athletes scooped six medals — 3 gold, 2 silver, 1 bronze — while Jhandu Kumar clinched the other bronze in para powerlifting.
The para athletics team also ended India’s 20-year wait for a medal at the CWG. The last medal from para athletics before Glasgow came from Ranjith Kumar Jayaseelan in the men’s seated Discus Throw event in the 2006 edition.
There were three double podium finishes for India in para athletics in Glasgow — Sharmila (gold) and Shilpa Shyla (bronze) in women’s shot put F57; Dilip Mahadu Gavit (gold) and Mohammed Basil (silver) in men’s 100m T47; and Soman Rana (gold) and Shubham Juyal (silver) in men’s Shot Put F57.
Indians also created one Games record and one Asian record.
During the official send-off event of the para sports team, Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) President Devendra Jhajharia had said India can win a record-breaking half a dozen medals in para sports in the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
While the para powerlifters had their pre-CWG training camp in SAI Gandhinagar, the para-athletics team had their camp in SAI Bengaluru.
