The inspiring, incredible stories behind India's Paralympic medallists

Avani Lekhara - Women's 10m air rifle standing SH1 – Gold

Shooter Avani Lekhara, who was paralysed from the waist down in a terrible car accident when she was 11 years old, made history at the Paris Paralympics. She is the first Indian woman to win two gold Paralympic medals.

“The accident happened in February 2012, and my whole family was there. It was like a nightmare coming to life,” Lekhara told Forbes India. She was asleep in the backseat of the car, and when she woke up, she could no longer move her legs. “At age 10 or 11, it was really hard to understand.”

After re-learning how to sit in and navigate with a wheelchair, Lekhara says that her family encouraged her to think positively. “They said, look, you can’t use your legs, but there’s a lot you can still do,” she recounts, saying that this changed her perspective.

She first tried her hand at archery, but did not feel comfortable with it. Eventually, with help from a coach, she found that she did well with a rifle at a shooting range, and began competing with able-bodied athletes.

“There were no accessibility measures at the range then—my parents had a wheelchair ramp installed, for instance,” she says. “But now, with government support and better awareness, things have improved.”

Mona Agarwal - Women's 10m air rifle standing SH1 (Shooting) – Bronze

A mother of two, 37-year-old Mona Agarwal made her Paralympics debut in Paris this year—and snagged a bronze medal.

Despite battling polio from the beginning, Agarwal always wanted to be an athlete—even in the face of critics, and a society that would make fun of her. The daughter of a hardware store owner in Sikar, Rajasthan, Agarwal competed in a range of para-sports, from shot put, discus throw and javelin throw at the state level, and eventually, pursued para-wrestling.

She picked up shooting only at the end of 2021, armed with an astute aim and remarkable upper body strength, which her coach credits to her training in wrestling.

Preethi Pal - Women's 100m and 200m T35 (Athletics) – Bronze

Preethi Pal became the first-ever Indian track and field athlete to win two medals at the Paris Paralympics—one bronze each at the T35 100m and T35 200m competitions.

Thus far, Indian had won all its athletic medals since the 1984 Paralympics had come from field events.

Pal was born in Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, and has had cerebral palsy since childhood.

Manish Narwal - Men's 10m air pistol SH1 (Shooting) – Silver

Para-shooter Manish Narwal scored India’s fourth medal at the Paris 2024 Paralympics, a silver, to follow his gold at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics. Narwal has a congenital impairment in his right hand.

The 22-year-old had a significant lead at the start, before he seemed to lose his stronghold and shot a series of poor scores.

Narwal fell in love with the sport of shooting when his family took him to visit a local shooting range, and his talent was soon noticed by coach Jai Prakash Nautiyal. In the years to come, Narwal broke several junior and senior records, undeterred by his disability.

Rubina Francis - Women's 10m Air Pistol SH1 (Shooting) - Bronze

Hailing from Jabalpur, 25-year-old Rubina Francis was born with a condition called talipes, commonly known as clubfoot. This birth defect causes a person’s foot to turn inward, rendering them unable to stand steady.

Francis, unfortunately, couldn’t gain her balance to shoot while standing or sitting, until her coaches brought in specially designed shoes to aid her. Her father, a garage owner, and mother, a nurse, have been staunch supporters of her sporting journey, despite their own financial struggles.

Francis began intensive training for the Paralympics in 2018, and hit it big when she won the silver medal at the Para World Championships in Peru (Lima). In Paris this year, she became the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic medal in pistol shooting.

Nishad Kumar - Men's high jump T47 (Athletics) – Silver

Nishad Kumar lost his right hand in a childhood farm accident. With determination and hard work, he racked up a silver medal for India at the Paris Paralympics, in the men’s T47 high jump event.

Kumar’s mother was a state-level volleyball player and discus thrower, and always told Kumar that he was no different from others. He first began to compete in sprints and in wrestling, until he eventually found his calling with the high jump category.

Yogesh Kathuniya - Men's discus throw F56 (Athletics) - Silver

Discus thrower Yogesh Kathuniya clinched a silver medal at the Paris Paralympics, his fifth second-place finish since the Tokyo Games held in 2021.

This win comes despite Kathuniya suffering a bout of chicken pox last year, followed by a diagnosis of cervical radiculopathy, which affects the C4, C5 and C6 vertebrae.

Kathuniya has a rare autoimmune condition called the Guillain-Barre syndrome, which causes numbness and muscle weakness, and can lead up to paralysis. He was confined to a wheelchair, until his mother learned physiotherapy herself, and got him to walk again.

Kathuniya told the media that he needs some time to focus on regaining his mental strength, and has his eyes trained on the gold in the future.

Nitesh Kumar - Men's singles SL3 (Badminton) - Gold

A train accident left Nitesh Kumar bed-ridden in 2009, when he had to have his left leg amputated. Even so, Kumar worked hard to fulfil a dream—to attend an IIT. He cleared the IIT entrance exam, and it was on campus at IIT-Mandi that he fell in love with badminton.

Kumar defeated his English opponent in a thrilling final to clinch the gold medal in the SL3 class, which features athletes with lower limb disabilities. Here, only half the width of the badminton court is used.

Kumar also works as a senior badminton coach at the sports department of Haryana.

Thulasimathi Murugesan - Women's singles SU5 (Badminton) – Silver

Born with a congenital deformity in her left hand, Thulasimathi Murugesan lost her thumb at a young age. A dangerous accident at age 22 exacerbated the situation, affecting her left hand’s mobility largely. However, Murugesan’s father, a sports enthusiast, encouraged her to pursue badminton since she was a child.

The veterinary science student began earning several accolades and started racking up the wins, before choosing to pursue the sport full-time. At the Paris Paralympics, she won the silver medal.

Manisha Ramadass - Women's singles SUS (Badminton) - Bronze

Manisha Ramadass, a shuttler from Tamil Nadu, was born with a nerve condition called Erb’s palsy affecting her right arm.

The 19-year-old tried her hand at para-badminton following a friend’s recommendation, and made her international badminton debut in 2022. In the same year, she took home 11 gold and 5 bronze championship medals. She earned the World No 1 title in the SU5 category in August 2022.

In keeping with her consistent success, Ramadass snagged the silver medal at the Paris Paralympics.

Suhas Yathiraj - Men's singles SL4 (Badminton) – Silver

An IAS officer, NIT engineering graduate and para-shuttler, Suhas Yathiraj has had an unconventional journey to the Paralympic podium. He won back-to-back silver medals at the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Games.

Yathiraj has a congenital deformity in his left ankle, but he never let that stand in the way of success. An excellent student, Yathiraj had larger dreams after finishing an engineering education, which propelled him to join the civil services. His ascent in para-badminton began later, and soon, he became the only bureaucrat to represent India at an elite global sporting event. He is also the only Indian IAS officer to have received both an Arjuna Award and a Paralympic medal.