Devendra Jhajharia
The Indian contingent is participating in the Paralympics 2024, which is going to be held in Paris from 28 August to 8 September, with great expectations. This time the 84-member team from India will showcase its abilities in 12 different sports. The President of the Indian Paralympic Committee, Devendra Jhajharia, believes that this time India can win at least 25 medals, which will be a great achievement for the country.
Pramod Bhagat is not part of the Indian unit
The recent controversy surrounding star badminton player Pramod Bhagat created a stir in the sports world. Pramod Bhagat, who won a gold medal in badminton at the Tokyo Paralympics, has been suspended for 18 months by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) as part of disciplinary action. This action has been taken due to violation of BWF’s anti-doping rules. This suspension has given a big blow to the Indian team. Due to which he is not part of the Indian contingent for Paris, but Jhajharia is confident that this will not have any lasting effect on the team’s morale.
Jhajharia is hopeful
Devendra Jhajharia, who himself has won gold medal twice in Paralympics, has made it clear that even without Pramod Bhagat, the Indian team can achieve the target of 25 medals. Jhajharia says that he has kept a close watch on the preparations of the players and their confidence is strong. He said that we have worked very hard on the physical fitness and mental strength of the players. I have myself seen the practice sessions of the players and I am sure that we will reach our target.
Past performance and preparations this time
The Indian contingent won 19 medals at the Tokyo Paralympics and was ranked 24th in the medal tally. This time, Jhajharia expects the team to win 25 medals and finish in the top 20 in the table. This time 84 players will participate in the Paralympics, which is more than the 56 players last time. For the first time, players from India will participate in blind judo, para sailing, and para cycling, which has increased the expectations even more. Jhajharia has the highest expectations from athletics. The Indian contingent includes 38 track and field athletes, from whom Jhajharia expects the most medals. He said that there are 47 new players in our contingent, who are full of confidence and mentally strong despite participating in their first Paralympics.
