Para Sports in India: Paralympics, Asian Para Games and the PCI

Three names to know

• Murlikant Petkar won gold in 50 m freestyle swimming at the 1972 Paralympics in Heidelberg. It was India’s first Paralympic gold. (Source: Paralympic.org)
• Devendra Jhajharia won javelin gold at Athens 2004 and again at Rio 2016. He also took silver at Tokyo 2020. He competes in the F46 class.
• Deepa Malik won silver in the F53 shot put at Rio 2016. She was the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic medal.
• Avani Lekhara won gold in 10 m air rifle at both Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. She is the first Indian woman with two Paralympic golds. (Source: PM India)

Jhajharia (2017) and Malik (2019) also won the Khel Ratna, the top sports honour.

More names that students often meet

• Girisha Nagarajegowda won silver in the F42 high jump at London 2012. It was India’s only medal there.
• Mariyappan Thangavelu won gold in the T42 high jump at Rio 2016.
• Sumit Antil won javelin gold (F64) at Tokyo 2020 and again at Paris 2024.
• Pramod Bhagat won badminton singles gold (SL3) at Tokyo 2020, when badminton made its Paralympic debut.

The governing body

• The Paralympic Committee of India (PCI) selects teams and manages para sport in India.
• It works with the Sports Authority of India and the Sports Ministry. See Sports Authority of India.
• The PCI was formed in 1994. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the world body, had been set up five years earlier, in 1989.
• The PCI is India’s National Paralympic Committee. It is the body the IPC recognises, so it sends India’s teams to the Paralympics.
• The Sports Ministry suspended the PCI on 2 February 2024. It lifted the suspension on 5 March 2024. (Source: The Bridge)

Why recognition keeps coming up

Two bodies can withdraw recognition from the PCI. The Sports Ministry can do it under India’s sports rules. The IPC can do it under its own rules. The two acted at different times.

• In 2019 the Ministry de-recognised the PCI after a dispute over its president and over invalid meetings. The IPC also suspended the PCI that year over infighting. (Source: The Tribune)
• In 2024 the Ministry cited a delay in elections after the four-year term of the committee ended on 31 January. The IPC said the PCI was not in breach of its own obligations. (Source: Outlook)

What the new sports law adds

• The National Sports Governance Act, 2025 gives sports bodies a legal footing. Earlier, the 2011 Sports Code was only a set of administrative instructions.
• The Act allows only one National Paralympic Committee. That committee must hold IPC recognition.
• Each national sports federation must also follow the Act’s rules on its executive committee, such as including women and sportspersons of merit. (Source: India Code)

Why classes exist

Para athletes compete against others with a similar level of impairment. This keeps contests fair. (Source: Paralympic.org)

Reading a code like F46

• The letter shows the event type. F means field event. T means track event.
• The number shows the impairment. The 40s cover limb deficiency, such as an arm or leg difference.
• F46 is a field class for athletes with an arm impairment who compete standing. T47 is the matching track class.

The number ranges in para athletics

Within a group, a lower number means a more severe impairment. So F46 is less affected than F45. (Source: Paralympic.org)

Codes in this lesson

• Sumit Antil throws javelin in F64. Devendra Jhajharia throws in F46. Dharambir Nain won the club throw in F51, a seated class.
• Mariyappan Thangavelu and Praveen Kumar are high jumpers in T42 and T64. The T means a jump, as jumps count with track classes.
• Other sports use their own codes. Shooting uses SH1 and badminton uses SL3 and SH6. These are separate systems.

Paralympics

• Rio 2016: India won 4 medals.
• Tokyo 2020: 19 medals (5 gold, 8 silver, 6 bronze). India stood 24th.
• Paris 2024: 29 medals (7 gold, 9 silver, 13 bronze). India stood 18th with 84 athletes in 12 sports. (Source: PIB)

Asian Para Games

• Hangzhou 2023: India won 111 medals (29 gold, 31 silver, 51 bronze). (Source: PIB)
• Aichi-Nagoya 2026: a record 114 medals. See the news card below.

Games by Games

India has won 60 Paralympic medals in all: 16 gold, 21 silver and 23 bronze. (Source: India at the Paralympics, medal records)

What the pattern shows

• Between 1988 and 2000 and again in 2008, India won no medals at all.
• The jump from 4 medals at Rio to 19 at Tokyo came with more funding, TOPS support and more sports in the team.
• Harvinder Singh won India’s first Paralympic archery gold at Paris 2024.

Where the Games have been held

• The first Asian Para Games were held in Guangzhou, China, in 2010. They follow the Asian Games in the same city.
• Later hosts were Incheon (2014), Jakarta (2018), Hangzhou (the 2022 edition, held in October 2023) and Aichi-Nagoya (2026).
• India’s best before 2023 was 72 medals at Jakarta in 2018, with 15 gold. (Source: India at the Asian Para Games, medal records)
• Hangzhou lifted India past 100 medals for the first time. The 2026 total of 114 is the new record.

Two editions so far

• The first edition was held in New Delhi in December 2023.
• The second edition ran in New Delhi from 20 to 27 March 2025. It had six sports: archery, athletics, badminton, table tennis, powerlifting and shooting. (Source: AIR News)
• More than 1,300 para athletes took part. Haryana topped the table. (Source: PIB)
• The aim is to find young talent early and feed it into national camps.

The Khel Ratna

• 2017: Devendra Jhajharia. 2019: Deepa Malik. 2020: Mariyappan Thangavelu.
• 2021: Avani Lekhara, Sumit Antil, Pramod Bhagat, Krishna Nagar and Manish Narwal, all after Tokyo 2020. (Source: KhelNow)
• The award is now called the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna.

Other support

• Para athletes are also eligible for the Arjuna Award and for monthly TOPS support, as the next card shows.

Three different movements

Deaf athletes can enter the Paralympics only if they also have a qualifying impairment. (Source: Special Olympics fact sheet) India sent its best-ever team to the Deaflympics in Tokyo in 2025. (Source: PM India)

Quick recall list

• India’s first Paralympic medal was Murlikant Petkar’s gold in 1972. It came in swimming.
• Devendra Jhajharia is the only Indian with two Paralympic javelin golds before Sumit Antil matched him.
• Sumit Antil is the first Indian to defend a Paralympic javelin title.
• Deepa Malik was the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic medal. It was a shot put silver in 2016.
• Avani Lekhara is the first Indian woman to win Paralympic gold. She won in shooting (SH1) at Tokyo 2020 and again at Paris 2024.
• The classification code has two parts: a letter for the event type and a number for the impairment.
• The IPC was set up in 1989. The PCI was formed in 1994.
• The Deaflympics began in 1924, long before the Paralympics in 1960.

Common traps

• Do not mix the Khelo India Para Games with the Asian Para Games. One is national. The other is continental.
• Do not call all disability sport the Paralympics. Deaf sport and intellectual-disability sport have their own Games.
• A lower class number means a more severe impairment, not a less severe one.

Schemes

• The Khelo India Para Games began in December 2023 in New Delhi. They find young para talent. (Source: PIB) See Khelo India.
• Under TOPS, Core athletes get Rs 50,000 a month for personal needs. Development athletes get Rs 25,000. (Source: PIB)
• Para athletes are also eligible for the Arjuna Award and the Khel Ratna.

Aichi-Nagoya, 18 to 24 October 2026

• India won a record 114 medals: 30 gold, 35 silver and 49 bronze. Para athletics gave 65 and para badminton 16. (Source: AIR News)
• Sheetal Devi and Toman Kumar won the compound mixed team gold. (Source: AIR News)
• India swept the podium in the men’s F46 shot put. Sachin Khilari won gold with 15.87 m. (Source: AIR News)
• Bhavina Patel and Shubham Wadhwa won India’s first Asian Para Games mixed doubles medal in para table tennis. (Source: PM India)
• Nishad Kumar and Mona Agarwal were India’s flag-bearers. (Source: AIR News)