India’s para-athletics squad for the Asian Para Games in Aichi-Nagoya has 62 athletes, about half the 123 that competed at the previous Games in Hangzhou, according to Outlook India. The reduction is the main reason that India’s medal target is lower this time, according to the same report.
The cause is a limit on entries. The Asian Paralympic Committee imposed caps on how many athletes each country can enter, and it initially granted India only 60 slots in athletics, according to Outlook. After what the report calls persistent advocacy, Indian officials negotiated two more places, bringing the total to 62.
Paralympic Committee of India chief executive Rahul Swami described the effort: ‘After several emails and sustained efforts, we managed to secure two additional places, taking the total to 62,’ according to Outlook. He added that ‘all the 62 are medal probables, and many of them are gold medal probables.’
The importance of athletics can be measured. At Hangzhou, India won 111 medals in total, comprising 29 gold, 31 silver and 51 bronze, and 53 of them came from para-athletics, which made it India’s largest medal-producing discipline, according to Outlook. Athletics therefore supplied about 48 per cent of the medals, a share calculated by IndiaX24.
Dividing the medals by the athletes shows a ratio. With 53 medals from 123 athletes in Hangzhou, there were about 0.43 medals per athlete, and a squad of 62 at the same rate would win about 27 medals, which is IndiaX24’s illustrative calculation. It assumes that every athlete is equally likely to win a medal, which is not the case, because the smaller squad has been selected to include the strongest, as Mr Swami’s remark implies.
The overall target reflects the cut. Mr Swami expects about 90 to 100 medals from the Games, below the 111 won at Hangzhou, according to Outlook. If athletics were to win 27 to 40 medals, the other disciplines would have to supply the remainder, but the reports reviewed do not give a breakdown by sport, so IndiaX24 does not forecast one.
The athletes named in the report include the archer Sheetal Devi, the javelin thrower Sumit Antil, the sprinter Simran, and competitors in club throw and high jump. Other previews add the sprinters Preeti Pal and Deepthi Jeevanji. The overall contingent of 166 athletes is the subject of a separate article by IndiaX24.
The reduction raises a question of fairness that the reports reviewed do not answer. The Asian Paralympic Committee’s reason for the cap is not given, and it is not stated whether other large delegations were limited in the same way. IndiaX24 has not found the committee’s own statement.
For the athletes who were not selected, the cap means a missed chance at a continental event. The reports reviewed do not say how the 62 were chosen or what happened to the others, so IndiaX24 cannot describe the process.
The team will also be judged against the 53 medals won in Hangzhou, which the Paralympic Committee itself does not expect to match. If athletics produced 40 medals, for example, it would be 13 fewer than before, a hypothetical subtraction by IndiaX24, and the other nine disciplines would need to make up the difference to reach the committee’s target of 90 to 100. The reports reviewed do not say which sports the committee is relying on to do so.
IndiaX24 will report on how the athletics team performs from the first day of competition on 18 October.
Image: Sumit Antil receiving the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award in 2021 (file photo). Photo by President’s Secretariat, licensed under Government Open Data License – India, via Wikimedia Commons.
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