The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games begin with the opening ceremony on Wednesday night, as the world's best differently abled athletes come together in the French capital.
Here's everything you need to know about the Paris 2024 Paralympics, with a special focus on India's campaign:
When are the Paris Paralympics starting?
The opening ceremony is scheduled on August 28, (starting at 11.30 PM IST).
Javelin thrower Sumit Antil and shot putter Bhagyashri Jadhav will be India's flag-bearers at the opening ceremony.
The closing ceremony is on September 9.
What's the 2024 Paralympics schedule?
The events at the Paralympics in Paris will start at around 11 AM IST and will continue past midnight on all the competition days. Most big medal events will be in the evening or even past midnight in India, except for shooting, which will mostly be in the early evening.
Here's the daily schedule for Indian athletes and their events: How to plan your Paralympics schedule: Key dates, medal events, star athletes.
How many sports are in the Paralympics?
Medals will be contested in 549 events across 22 sports at the Paris Paralympics, with para cycling, para rowing and blind judo being added to the program for these Games.
India will have representation in 12 of those sports. Here's more on the history of the Paralympics and the different sports which will be contested in Paris.
How are athletes classified as differently abled?
The athletes are divided into various 'sport classes' depending on how much their physical impairment limits their degree of activity.
There are eight different types of physical impairments that athletes are classified by, in addition to vision impairment and intellectual impairment. Those eight are: impaired muscle power, impaired passive range of movement, limb deficiency, leg length difference, short stature, hypertonia and ataxia.
Some sports have only one Sport Class (like Para powerlifting). On the other hand, due to the different disciplines in track and field, Para athletics is divided into more than 50 Sport Classes.
How many countries are taking part at the Games?
There are 167 nations being represented at the Paralympics, as well as Neutral Paralympic athletes (referring to para-athletes from Russia and Belarus) and the Refugee Paralympic team.
How many Indians are participating in Paris?
India will send their largest ever contingent of 84 para-athletes for the 2024 Paralympics.
India will have representatives in the three new disciplines added to the Paralympic program: para cycling, para rowing and blind judo.
Here is India's full contingent for the 2024 Paris Paralympics: Full list of India's para-athletes going to Paris.
Who are India's best gold medal prospects in Paralympics 2024?
Sumit Antil is still a firm favourite and it would be a shock if he doesn't retain his javelin gold medal. Avani Lekhara (shooting) has a title to defend from Tokyo as well, as do Manish Narwal (shooting) and Krishna Nagar (badminton). In addition, Sheetal Devi took the world by storm at the Asian Para Games in Hangzhou last year, and she could be one of India's big prospects for a gold medal as well.
However, Pramod Bhagat, also a badminton gold medallist at Tokyo, will miss out in Paris this time due to a ban imposed on him for a doping offense.
Where can I watch the Paralympics in India?
In India, the Paralympics will be telecast on the Sports 18 network and streamed LIVE on Jio Cinema. For in-depth and round-the-clock coverage, there's always ESPN.in