Paralympics- Who Are India’s Best Medal Hopes? | By Rithik, 8, Chennai

India starts its first matches today with table tennis. Let me tell you how India has performed in the previous paralympic games.

India has bagged 12 medals till now which consist of 4 gold medals, 4 silver medals and 4 bronze medals.

For the Rio Paralympics, we sent 19 participants and bagged 5 medals. This time we’re sending 54 people to participate. And we are sending them to participate in 9 sports.

The paralympics began on August 24 (Tuesday) and ends on September 5 (Sunday). This year, our flag bearer is javelin thrower Tek Chand. I expect that we will get more medals than last year.

The Paralympics started in 1960. Our first ever medal was gold which was won by Murlikant petkar whomade a record of 37.33 seconds in men’s 50m swimming in 1972.

A bright medal hopeful this year is Devendra Jhajharia who has bagged 2 gold medals for India in javelin throw. I expect that he will bag another gold medal for India this year too. Other exciting athletes from India are Varun Singh Bhati, Pramod Bhagat, Palak Kohli and Suyash Jadhav.