World Para Athletics: India’s takeaways are record medals, goodwill as hosts

When the curtains came down on the 2025 World Para Athletics Championships in the capital on 5 October, Sunday, there were plenty of takeaways for India both as hosts and a participating nation. While they earned kudos from the para athletes’ community and top brass of the Paralympics movement for delivering such a global event for the first time, the likes of Sumit Antil & Co. lived up to their growing stature with a record haul of 22 medals.

A haul of 6 gold, 9 silver and 7 bronze medals saw India finish in 10^th position out of 100-plus nations – with Brazil, China and Iran making the top three, respectively. The Indian contingent also scripted 3 championship records, 7 Asian records, 9 fourth-place finishes and 30-plus personal bests.

That's a quantum jump for India, who finished with 9 medals in all at the Dubai 2019 edition, 10 at Paris 2023 and 17 at 2024 Kobe edition. In the Paralympics too, India’s medal tally witnessed a surge from a mere 2 at 2004 Athens to 4 in 2016 Rio de Janeiro, 19 in 2020 Tokyo and 29 medals, their best performance till date, at the 2024 Paris Paralympics.

Speaking to National Herald over the phone, Devendra Jhajharia, a double gold medallist in the Paralympics and now president of the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI), sounded happy that the bunch had exceeded his prediction of a 20-medal mark. ‘’There has been a 27-28 per cent growth in terms of medals from a tally of 17 last time in Kobe. It gives us a great sense of pride that we are in the top 10, but it’s still a work in progress. While we are consistently doing well in throwing events, there is a score of improvement in running events,’’ said Jhajharia, a key face of the organising committee.

Asked whether such a performance can act as a launching pad for the LA Paralympics in three years’ time, Jhajharia agreed. ‘’Three years may look like a long period, but it’s not in the preparation cycle of elite athletes. There is already a lot of fresh blood as 35 of the 73-member Indian contingent were debutants and the Asian Paralympics next year will be another window to show that they belong,’’ said the Dhyan Chand, Khel Ratna awardee.

Deepa Malik, another pioneering figure in the country’s para-athletics movement and first Indian woman to win a medal at the Paralympics in Rio 2016, said she had never expected the country to play hosts to an event of this magnitude.  

“As an athlete and as an administrator, I am absolutely elated to say that how India has successfully hosted 100-plus countries and this has been the biggest-ever celebration of para sport in India. This is going to create so much awareness and love in the hearts of Indians and not just India at the global map,’’ said wheelchair-user Malik, Jhajharia’s predecessor as the PCI supremo.

“Last time when we had the biggest conglomeration of Para Sports in a multi-nation tournament was in CWG 2010. The scene today is altogether different when it comes to the organisation of the Games, from infrastructure to accommodation, travel to volunteers etc,” an upbeat Malik added.

Fleur Jong, a six-time gold medallist in the World Championships and three-time Paralympics medallist from the Netherlands, voiced warm sentiments about Indian hospitality and the welcoming attitude of the hosts. Fleur, a double amputee, won two golds, in the long jump and in the 100m T64 category.

“It has been a fantastic experience in India. The people, including the officials, volunteers, medical staff, hotel staff all have been very welcoming and always ready to help. The event has been organised very well. I look forward to coming back whenever the opportunity comes,” Fleur Jong said.

Markus Rehm of Germany, a long jump world champion in the T64 class, said: “This is my second time here but I enjoyed every moment here in India. The hospitality was great; people are super friendly.”