At their meeting at his home on Thursday, the Prime Minister congratulated India’s Paralympians on their unprecedented haul of 29 medals at the Paralympic Games in Paris. He also requested the athletes to share their Paralympic experiences.
Yogesh Kathuniya, a discus thrower who has won two silver medals at the Paralympic Games, dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi “Param Mitra” during their meeting at the PM’s mansion. With a season-best throw of 42.22 meters, Kathuniya—who took home the silver medal in the F56 category at the World Para-Athletics Championships in May—won the silver in the Men’s Discus Throw – F56 event at the just finished Paris Paralympics. In addition to congratulating them on their record-breaking 29 medal haul at the Paris Paralympic Games, the Prime Minister welcomed India’s Paralympians to his home on Thursday and urged them to share their Paralympic experiences.
“You are the reason for the constancy in performance; the programs you have introduced, such as TOPS and Khelo India, are the reason for this. PM Modi was addressed by Kathuniya, who stated, “For all of us, you are our ‘param mitra,’ or best friend.
The Prime Minister retorted, “I want to work as a’mitra’ with you all and I feel proud of this post.”
With a record-tying 29 medals—seven gold, nine silver, and thirteen bronze—India came in at number eighteen in the medal count. The contingent broke the previous record for the most medals won by India at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics (19).With 16 gold medals, India reached a record 50 medals in their Paralympic history with this record haul. 21 bronze and 23 silver.
India sent a record 84 para-athletes to the Paris 2024 Paralympics, which took place in the French city from August 28 to September 8. India participated in 12 different disciplines, which is three more than in Tokyo 2020.
