The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games ended for India on Sunday, with Pooja Ojha the last athlete in action. Ojha failed to qualify for the women’s 200m kayak final and withdrew from the competition. As a result, India’s medal tally at the Paris Paralympic Games ended at 29 – seven gold, nine silver and 13 bronze, making it the most rewarding campaign for the country. The 29 medals put India at 18th position in the points table. Pakistan, also in contention to win the event, ended the campaign tied for last in 79th position, with just one bronze medal to its name.

India performed very well in the 2024 season, beating top nations like Switzerland, Belgium, South Korea, Turkey and Argentina to finish the Para Games in Paris among the top 20 nations in the world.

Compared to India, the traditional heavyweights of the Paralympics — China, Great Britain, USA, Italy, etc. — did very well and finished among the top 10 countries. India, which showed significant improvement in Paris, would like to put up an even better show at the 2028 LA Para Games.

On Saturday, India claimed its 29th and final medal at the Paris Paralympic Games. Navdeep Singh won the gold medal in the men’s javelin throw in the F41 class.

Navdeep, who competes in the small-statured athlete class, originally finished with a silver medal after beating Chinese world record holder Sun Pengxiang with a throw of 47.32 metres.

However, that was upgraded to an unprecedented gold after Iran’s Sadegh Beit Sayah was disqualified for repeatedly displaying an offensive flag. Pengxiang (44.72m) finished with a silver medal.

Sayah had managed to overtake the rest of the group with a new Paralympic record of 47.64 metres in his penultimate throw, but lost the medal for his antics.

According to International Paralympic Committee rules, athletes are not allowed to make political gestures during the event. Sayah was disqualified from the final standings for unsportsmanlike/inappropriate behavior.

At the same venue, Simran, accompanied by her guide Abhay Singh, ran an impressive personal best of 24.75 seconds to take bronze in the women’s 200 metres (T12).

The 24-year-old from Delhi, who was diagnosed with visual impairment when she was born prematurely, is the reigning world champion in the event. She had finished fourth in the 100m competition at the ongoing Games and Saturday’s medal helped save her campaign.

Athletics contributed 17 medals to this tally, four of which were gold. The country is ranked 15th overall, led by China with a whopping 208 medals, including 90 gold.

For Navdeep, the gold makes up for the disappointment of fourth place at the Tokyo Games.

Navdeep is an inspector with the Income Tax Department and has won five medals at the national level since joining in 2017. Earlier this year, he won bronze at the Para World Championships.

Simran won two silver medals at the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou last year and secured three gold medals in the 100 metres, 200 metres and long jump at the inaugural Khelo India Para Games in December last year.

She is coached by her husband Naik Gajendra Singh.

With PTI inputs