Again shower of medals, crossed 100 in para also: Anurag Thakur

New Delhi. Indian para-athletes have created history by winning 111 medals including 29 gold medals in the Para Asian Games. This is India’s best performance so far. Earlier, India had won 14 medals in the 2010 edition of the Games, 33 in 2014 and 72 in 2018. This is India’s best performance since the inception of the Games, where India was ranked 5th in the overall medal tally. It is noteworthy that India had sent its largest contingent this year which included 303 athletes (191 men and 112 women). Out of 111 medals, women athletes performed brilliantly and won 40 medals which was 36% of the medal tally. Extremely pleased with India’s record-breaking performance, Union Youth and Sports Affairs Minister Anurag Singh Thakur said, “This performance is a reward for the hard work of our athletes and the excellent policies in sports under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Be it the Khelo India scheme at the grassroots level or the Target Olympic Podium scheme for elite athletes, the support that young players are continuously receiving through these schemes is impressive.

The results of the same are visible today.” The Union Minister further said, “You will be happy to know that 8 Khelo India athletes and 46 TOPS athletes participated in these games. He has won a total of 38 medals out of 111 in these games. Thakur further said, “Under the leadership of Modi ji, we tripled the sports budget as compared to 2014. Today we are giving better support and facilities to all our athletes, be it in terms of coaches, training, overseas exposure, diet or infrastructure.” He said, “The spectacular performance of the athletes in the recently concluded Asian Games as well as in these Para Asian Games and the previous Olympics, Paralympics, CWG, Deaflympics shows that India’s strength in sports is growing. And as our Honorable Prime Minister said in the recent IOC meeting, today India is not only performing well but is also getting ready to host big events. Be it the Youth Olympics in 2030 or the Summer Olympics in 2036, India is now ready to emerge as a sporting superpower on the world stage.”