PM Modi holds conversation with Paralympics medalists, calls their accomplishments "biggest gift to country"
Sep 06, 2024
New Delhi [India], September 6 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a telephonic conversation with India's latest set of Paris Paralympics medalists, calling their accomplishments at the marquee events as the "biggest gift to the country".
PM Modi called Paralympic Games medal winners Harvinder Singh, Kapil Parmar, Pranav Soorma, Sachin Sarjerao Khilari and Dharambir. He congratulated them on their victory.
PM said that the players winning the medals is the biggest gift to the country. He also appreciated the efforts of the coaches that have gone behind such fantastic performances of the players.
India's medal tally in the ongoing Paralympics has gone up to 26, with six gold medals, nine silver medals and 11 bronze medals. This is the most gold India has ever won at a Paralympics Games event, outdoing the total of five gold in Tokyo 2020. Also, this is the most number of medals India has won at a Paralympics event, outdoing the total of 19 medals in Tokyo 2020.
Kapil Parmar clinched a bronze medal by ousting Brazil's Elielton de Oliveira in the men's -60kg J1 contest on Thursday at the Paris Paralympics. The Indian executed the Ippon in 33 seconds to end the contest and take the bronze medal within the blink of an eye. Kapil's triumph marked India's 25th medal at the ongoing edition of the Paralympics.
Harvinder got his hands on India's first-ever gold medal in para-archery at the Paralympics. In a one-sided final, Harvinder ousted Poland's Lukasz Ciszek with a straight-set win, 6-0.
Khilari on Wednesday clinched the silver medal in the men's shot put F46 final at the ongoing Paris Paralympics. Sachin secured the second spot with a 16.32-metre throw, which is also the area best (AB). However, the Indian athlete was unlucky to miss the top spot after getting short of 0.6m.
The series of double podium finishes continued for India after para-athletes Dharambir and Pranav Soorma bagged gold and silver medals, respectively, in the men's club throw F51 final at the ongoing Paris Paralympics. Dharambir's record-breaking throw levelled India's tally of five gold medals that came in the Tokyo edition three years ago. Dharambir broke the Asian Record and set 34.92 m as the new benchmark to take away the gold. His compatriot Pranav was close to Dharambir but ended up being too far. He settled for the silver medal with a throw of 34.59 m.
