The 2024 Paralympics will be held from August 28 to September 8 in Paris, with the best of India's athletes looking to break new ground for para sports in the country.
India is sending its largest number of para-athletes ever to Paris 2024, hoping for the largest-ever medal tally at a single edition of the Games.
India had won 19 medals in the last edition at Tokyo and the goal now, as set by former gold medallist and now Paralympic Committee of India president Devendra Jhajharia, is more than 25 medals.
That may be an ambitious number, but the hopes are founded on India's progressing performance at the Para World Championships and then the Hangzhou Para Asian Games. Here's a look at India's Paris Paralympics squad in numbers:
84
The strength of India's squad taking part in the Paris Paralympics. This is the biggest ever contingent India has sent. At the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021, India had a 54-member contingent. The squad will be accompanied by 95 officials, which includes the personal coaches of some athletes as well as escorts travelling with them to take care of special needs. The total number of the Indian contingent will thus be 179.
4
India will have four defending gold medallists from Tokyo in Paris. Sumit Antil in men's javelin throw [F64], Krishna Nagar in badminton men's singles [SH6], Avani Lekhara in women's 10m air rifle shooting standing [SH1] and Manish Narwal in men's 50m pistol shooting [SH1] Pramod Bhagat, also a gold medallist at Tokyo in badminton, won't be competing in Paris after being suspended for 18 months due to whereabout failure as per anti-doping regulations.
12
India's 84 athletes will be competing across 12 sports - archery, athletics, badminton, canoeing, cycling, blind judo, powerlifting, rowing, shooting, swimming, table tennis, and taekwondo. This is an increase from the nine sports India participated in at Tokyo.
3
India will be competing in the three new sports at Paris - para-cycling, para-rowing and blind judo.
38
India's largest representation will be in athletics, with 38 competitors, significantly higher than any other sport. It is also India's most successful sport at the Paralympics, with 18 of their 31 medals coming from athletics. The next two sports with the most participation at Paris 2024 are badminton with 13 athletes and shooting with 10.
41
The oldest members of the Indian contingent are 41 years old - Soman Rana, who will compete in men's Shot Put F57, is the oldest having been born in January 1983. Tokyo silver medallist Suhas Yathiraj, who competes in badminton in the SL4 category, also turned 41 in July.
17
At the other end is Sheetal Devi, who at 17, will be the youngest Indian athlete in Paris. Famous for being an 'armless archer', the teenager operates the bow and shoots with her legs instead of her hands.
3
The number of times reigning champion Sumit Antil set the world record enroute his javelin throw gold medal at the Tokyo Paralympics.
His then-best throw of 68.55m won him gold and he's since bettered this record multiple times, significantly at the 2023 Para World Championships and then the Hangzhou Para Asian Games, winning gold on both occasions. His personal best of 73.29m is the best across all classifications in para-athletics. He will look to defend his gold with another world record in Paris.
19
India won a total of 19 medals (5 gold, 8 silver, 6 bronze) at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021, which is their greatest medal tally. It was a huge step up from the four medals at the 2016 Rio Games.