Rio Paralympics 2016 19 India Athletes to participate

The Paralympic Games is a platform for athletes with disabilities to showcase their skills at a stage that lets them represent their countries. The Paralympic Games are held every four years for athletes who suffer from various disabilities. The Rio Paralympics 2016 will be held in Rio de Janeiro from 7-18 September.

In order to differentiate between the various categories of legitimate disabilities, there are 10 categories, such as impaired muscle power, impaired passive range of movement, limb deficiency, leg length difference, short stature, hypertonia, ataxia, athetosis, vision impairment and intellectual impairment. There are nearly 4350 athletes participating from across the world.

India sent its 19 athletes to Rio Paralympics, the highest sent for the event till date. India’s athletes will take part in events such as club throw, javelin throw, high jump and shooting. Here is the list of 19 athletes who will represent the nation in Rio Paralympics 2016:

• Amit Kumar Saroha – Club throw
• Devendra Jhajaria – Javelin throw
• Mariyappan Thangavelu – High jump
• Sundar Singh Gurjar – Javelin throw
• Dharambir – Club throw
• Deepa Malik – Shot put
• Karamjyoti Dalal – Discus throw
• Ankur Dhama – 1500m
• Basha Farman – Powerlifting
• Rinku – Javelin Throw
• Narendra Ranbir – Javelin Throw
• Suyash Narayan Jadhav – Swimming
• Virender Dhankar – Shotput, Javelin throw
• Rampal Chahar – High jump
• Sandeep – Javelin throw
• Sharad Kumar – High jump
• Pooja Rani – Archery
• Naresh Kumar Sharma – Shooting
• Varun Singh Bhati – High Jump 

Just like Rio Olympics 2016, Rio Paralympics 2016 had a grand opening ceremony. The torch was lit at the Museum of Tomorrow in the centre of the cidade maravilhosa after the flames from the five other Brazilian relay host cities – plus Stoke Mandeville in the UK – were sent virtually.

If you missed out Rio Olympics highlights, click here